Everything's Changed
by FoolsRushIn
Summary: What if Ted and Stella had actually gotten married on Shelter Island? How much would change? Mostly Barney/Robin, Ted/Stella (not much), Marshall/Lily, AU after Shelter Island
1. Chapter One

_I honestly have no idea where this came from or where this is going. Uhhh, hopefully this is a decent concept. I don't know. This just came to me last night while I was going to sleep and I had to write the whole chapter out in my head before I could go to bed. Anyway, the first chapter kind of focuses on everyone but I think I'm going to focus more on Barney and Robin eventually. We'll see how it goes. If you're confused or have any questions or anything, just let me know! Okay, hopefully you liked this? Let me know what you thought!_

* * *

After Stella leaves work, Lucy for school, and before Aidan wakes up for the day is the best time for Ted to think about everything. About his life, where he is, how he got here. If you had asked him when he married Stella how he thought his life would turn out, this would not have been his guess. Maybe some of the things he could have predicted, like their son, but other than that nothing ended up like he thought it would. Actually, he thought everything would stay the same except he'd be married with kids. But he hadn't spoken to Marshall, Lily, Barney, or Robin in almost seven years. He moved to New Jersey and had to start focusing on Lucy, then Aidan, and he had less and less time to take trips to the city. And of course, they never wanted to come to Jersey. Although, they had a couple times, but eventually contact tapered off. He started doing less and less actual architecture work and by the time his son was born, he was basically a stay-at-home dad. Since Stella's income was more than enough to support them as a family. Of course he got random offers here and there from family or friends, but never any real work.

Even though his life isn't what he thought it would be, he's pretty happy. He got what he always wanted: a wife and kids. He and Stella might not be as in love as he thought they'd be, but they're happy. And the kids are perfect. After Ted and Stella married, Tony came around less and less and Ted became the sole father figure in Lucy's life. Their son, Aidan, is four and Ted can already tell he's going to be a genius.

Of course he always thought his kids were going to be close to his old friends. And Ted always thought he would be close to their kids as well. Although, he's not even sure that Marshall and Lily ever had kids, he hopes they would have at least sent him an announcement for that one. After all, he told them when Aidan was born. He knows Barney and Robin haven't had kids. He's sure they're still out there enjoying the single life, still unwilling to commit. At least he can count on them to not change. He can't imagine a world where either of them would ever settle down.

He shakes his head, as if clearing away memories of his old friends. He doesn't like to think about them. He regrets that whole situation. But he has new friends. The suburbs is a great place to meet people and they fit his lifestyle better now. Sometimes things just don't work out, he tells himself, standing up to go check on his son. He knows he needs to stop dwelling on the past, after all his life is pretty great. Sometimes he almost calls them. He almost does a lot of the time, but he's never gotten the nerve to do it. But maybe this time he'll call Marshall and Lily or just stop by the old apartment. He's sure at least Robin is still living there. Yeah, maybe he'll do that.

* * *

"Marshmallow?" Lily asks in a sweet voice from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" Marshall replies walking into the kitchen, a giggling Marvin hanging off his arm.

"How are my boys this morning?" She greets momentarily distracted, tickling Marvin's stomach.

"I'm great, Mama!" Marvin proclaims wiggling out of his father's arms and running back towards the living room.

"Hey, do you think you could take the kids to daycare today? Robin convinced me I need a personal day, so we're going to the spa."

"I want to come to the spa." Marshall says with a pout.

"Aw, next time. It's a girls day."

"Okay," he concedes giving Lily a quick kiss. "Enjoy your day with Robin."

"Marvin! Jamie!" Lily calls to her suddenly absent children. Her youngest son peeks his head around the corner of the couch with a finger to his lips.

"Hide and seek!" He whispers quietly crawling back to his hiding place.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Marvin shouts from his bedroom and he comes tearing out into the living room, flipping over couch cushions and ducking under tables. He cheers loudly when he peeks under the couch, spotting his younger brother.

"Alright kids, get your stuff. Daddy's taking you to school today," Lily instructs and the kids run off to their room grabbing their backpacks and jackets.

"That kindergarten teacher voice really works for you." Marshall comments, as their two kids come back less than five minutes later. Lily smirks proudly and bends over kissing the kids on the forehead. "Have a good day!" She smiles, giving Marshall one last kiss before he heads out the door. As soon as they're out the door she picks up the couch cushions Marvin knocked over and reorganizing the table. Not surprisingly, Lily was made to be a mother. She loves it. In fact, her and Marshall barely wasted anytime between Jamie and Marvin since Jamie was only a year and three months younger than her brother.

Sometimes she misses the old days though. The nights where they would all sit at MacLaren's until Carl told them to leave, but those days were long over. Ted moved to New Jersey, her and Marshall had kids. At least, they hadn't disappeared like Ted had. Lily can't help but feel a little angry at Ted for simply disappearing from all their lives like that. He had missed so much and she was sure he was completely unaware. Ted always has a tendency to worry about himself first and others later. But Lily knows if Ted showed up at their door, they would welcome him back with open arms. Well, maybe not Barney, that whole thing was a littler harder on him than the rest of them. Still, Ted is always part of their family even if he's never met their kids or been to any important events in the last many years. Lily's happy that Ted got what he always wanted, even if it didn't include them. She's happy for him, she really is.

* * *

Robin rolls over in bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Hi," Barney smiles already awake leaning over to kiss her.

"Mmmm hey," She mumbles back snuggling into his arms.

"How'd you sleep?" He asks tucking her hair behind her ear.

"Amazingly, this is the most I've slept in the last two months." She laughs and he nods in agreement.

"I know, this is nice." He says gesturing between them.

"Mhm," she rolls over onto him kissing him softly. Almost on cue, the baby monitor on the bedside table lights up and cries can be heard. "Ugh," she groans her head landing softly on his chest.

"I'll get it," he assures her as she rolls over and he climbs out of bed. He comes back in the room a couple minutes later with a baby in his arms. Robin smiles, sitting up, and taking the baby out his arms.

"Hey, baby girl." She says as the baby grabs hold of her hands.

"You're going to go out with mommy and Aunt Lily today, but then when you come home daddy's going to teach you a magic trick and it's going to be legend wait-for-it…" The baby coos and Barney breaks out into a wide smile.

"Robin?! Did you hear that?! She just said her first word! It was dary!" Robin smiles and shakes her head slightly, but doesn't say anything else allowing her husband to have his moment.

"You know, normally kids don't speak until at least a year." She informs him, but he ignores her instead.

"Yeah, well Aubrey Sparkles Stinson is a smart one. After all, look at her parents." Robin rolls her eyes at the use of the full name. She had put up a fight on that one, but eventually Barney won out. Or she let him win. Even though she and Barney never planned on having kids, she was happy with the outcome. Aubrey is one of the best things that happened to her, along with Barney. She is actually happy for once in her life. She's not fighting it, she's not waiting for the other shoe to drop, she's completely happy. She has Barney and she has her daughter and she has Marshall and Lily and their kids. Her career is actually going really well. She's a legitimate reporter, not a morning talk show host. And she's so happy. Of course sometimes she thinks about how Ted isn't there, how there's an integral part of their group missing, how Aubrey won't have an Uncle Ted. It makes her a little sad. But, hey, if Ted is happy where he is then she's okay with it. Barney holds a bit of grudge, which she totally understands, but she knows she could welcome Ted back into their group if he showed up. Although, it's probably a moot point considering she hasn't heard from him in years, but she'd accept him back nonetheless.


	2. Chapter Two

_Well, I had really good feedback after the first chapter, so I'm hoping this means it wasn't too bad! Anyway, I couldn't go to bed until I finished it and it's not almost 3 in the morning, so please excuse any glaring grammar errors. I proofread as best as I could, I promise! Thank you guys so much for all the reviews and favorites and follows, even just for reading it! I really appreciate it! Okay, hope you like it…_

* * *

So that was it. Ted had called Marshall. Ted wanted to see Marshall. And the Ted, who did that, would never even reply to Barney's emails. Although, Barney hadn't tried to contact Ted in awhile. In fact, Barney had basically forgotten about Ted's existence at this point. Before he married Robin, he tried to talk to Ted. He called him, emailed him, even showed up at his house once, but it was all ignored. That was when Barney finally gave up on Ted. He stopped thinking about him and calling him and declaring him as his bro. But now that he knew Ted tried to contact Marshall…it sucked. Barney was never one to wallow or feel sorry for himself, but he had done a lot for Ted. And Ted always treated him like the annoying friend he tolerated. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the front door open. He jumped when he felt a hand on his leg and turned to find Robin staring at him concerned.

"Hey, you okay?" She asked rubbing his leg gently. "I called your name, like, five times." He managed a smile and nodded

"I'm fine."

"Barney…"

"We can talk about it later." He promised giving her a quick kiss. "Now, how was your first day back at work?" He asked as they rearranged themselves and he pulled her feet into his lap.

"It was long. And of course it only took 10 minutes for Sandy to make a pass at me." Robin rolled her eyes, but Barney's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"I don't like him." He muttered. Robin laughed, but humored her husband raking her fingers gently through his fair.

"I know you don't." Robin let out an exhausted sigh, letting her head rest against the back of the couch. "Is Aubrey sleeping?" She asked letting her eyes fall closed.

"Mhm, do you wanna join her?" He asked unable to keep the amusement out of his voice.

"Little bit," she murmured sinking deeper into the couch. "We can talk when I wake up," she promised slowly drifting to sleep. He smiled shimmying out from under her feet and heading to the kitchen to make dinner. He almost hoped she wouldn't remember that they needed to talk when she woke up. He didn't really want to talk about it. He just needed to think about something else, anything other than Ted. He sighed glancing through the fridge and realizing that the only thing in there was formula and leftover Chinese food. They really needed to buy some legitimate food. He closed the fridge and was about to turn on the television when he heard the very distinct sound of a baby crying. He smiled slightly to himself and headed toward his daughter's room.

It still amazed him sometimes to think about the fact that not only had he gotten married, but he had a kid, with Robin no less. Honestly, that last part didn't surprise him. He knew from the first time he kissed her that if he ever did settle down, it'd be with her. He leaned over gently scooping up Aubrey, who was the perfect mix of her parents with his bright blue eyes and Robin's dark brown hair. Barney propped her up against a pillow dangling toys in front of her face, much to her amusement. He wasn't sure how long he sat there playing with her, it occurred to him that this was the most content he'd ever been in his life. There were many times during his single days where he thought maybe he would be satisfied with that being his life, but now that he had this. Well, he knew he would've never been okay with anything else.

Barney glanced at the clock noticing it was time for Aubrey to eat and he walked out into the kitchen with her, quietly retrieving a bottle from the fridge and putting it in the microwave. He held his daughter close and sang softly to her as he fed her. He glanced over to the couch where he assumed Robin was still asleep only to find her watching him with a smile on her face.

"Hey daddy," she said getting up and walking toward him while he raised an eyebrow suggestively. "Stop!" Robin instructed pointing a finger at him. "You made that innocent word dirty! And now that's what our daughter is going to be calling you." Barney shrugged in response giving her his trademark smirk while she just shook her head at him.

A couple hours later, after Aubrey had gone to sleep, Barney and Robin were lounging in their bed. "Time to spill, Barnman." Robin prompted sitting up to face him. He smiled at the nickname, but other than that remained still. He didn't want to talk about it. Of course, they said they wouldn't keep secrets from each other and he didn't want to keep this from her, but he also didn't like to be vulnerable. Even though Robin was the one person he could be vulnerable with, he still hated it. "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She offered with a half smile, but he sighed and sat up. He had to tell her about it, otherwise it would just eat him up.

"Ted called Marshall." Barney knew that pretty much said it all. She could piece the rest together herself.

"Ted?" She said shock evident all over her face, which he totally understood considering he was beyond shocked too.

"I know. Talk about a blast from the past, right?" He let out a harsh laugh and Robin's face softened as she moved across the bed toward him.

"How you doin'?" She asked running a hand soothingly over his back.

"I don't know how to not be mad at him. I don't care if it's irrational or childish."

"It's not. It's totally understandable for you to feel the way you do. No one's begrudging you that, okay?" He nodded, but didn't say anything else. "What if Ted came back into our lives? Could you deal with that?"

"I tried so hard and all of my attempts were completely ignored. And you know he's not going to be okay with us."

"Well he has to be. Ted's married with kids, he can't at all be mad that we're together."

"Robin, it's Ted. Of course he's going to be mad. He thinks he has some kind of claim over you because he saw you first." Barney snapped and Robin huffed crossing her arms.

"Well, he doesn't. Besides, I didn't even want to go home with him that night."

"What?"

"I had my eye on his cute blonde friend," she smirked. "But then Ted came over to ask me out and I couldn't say no…"

"So, you're telling me that you were looking at me that night?" Robin nodded and a wide smile broke out on Barney's face.

"He was so convinced that your eyes met across the crowded room, but you were looking at me."

"I was," she confirmed.

"Hah, I knew I had you from the start."

"Oh please, don't act like you weren't interested in me, I saw you watching me that night."

"Okay," he conceded. "I might have wanted to hit on you…a lot."

"I rest my case." Barney rolled his eyes lovingly pulling her in for a kiss and suddenly he didn't care so much about Ted's reappearance.

* * *

"Ted called today." Marshall blurted out as soon as Lily walked in the door.

"What?" She questioned with wide eyes. "You can't just spring that on me as soon as I walk in the door!" She scolded. "Boys, go play in your room. Daddy and I need to talk."

"He said he wants to come to the city to visit. At first, he was going to stop by the apartment because he figured at least Robin still lived there."

"No!" Lily gasped. "Did you tell him?"

"Yeah, uh, by the way your two most commitment phobic friends including the one you thought was your soulmate at one point are now married and have a kid."

"He's going to be totally blindsided."

"Maybe he doesn't have to see Barney and Robin…"

"He's going to want to at least see Robin, he probably still thinks of her as the one that got away." Lily snorted and Marshall mumbled in agreement with her. "So, when is Ted coming?"

"This weekend," Marshall sighed.

"Okay, we have to break the news to him about Barney and Robin. He's going to be devastated. The whole reason they broke up was because she didn't want any of the stuff she now has…"

"Do we really have to tell him?" Marshall didn't want to tell Ted anything that could potentially cause any sort of hard feelings if Ted wasn't even going to stick around long enough for it to matter.

"Wait! I have an idea!" Lily said, eyes lit up with her thoughts. "Okay, we know he's going to want to see Robin. So we'll trick Robin into coming over here and tell her the plan once she's already here and has no time but to just go along with it. Ted will stay for a little and leave for another couple years. No harm done."

"I don't know…" Marshall trailed off unsure of his wife's scheme. "I don't think Robin will go for it."

"Of course she won't. That's why we don't tell her until she's here and Ted's outside that door. She's not going to want to deal with Ted if he finds out about her and Barney."

"Lilypad, you are brilliant." He smiled leaning over and giving her a quick kiss.

"I know. Now, time to set this plan into motion."

* * *

"Hey, so I'm going up to Marshall and Lily's on Saturday for lunch." Ted casually mentioned to Stella as they were lying in bed ready to go to sleep.

"Aw, that's good. You haven't seen them in awhile." Stella said with absentminded smile going back to whatever she was reading on her phone.

"Yeah, did you want to come? I think I'm going to bring Aidan along. Y'know Marshall and Lily haven't seen him since he was a newborn and even then it was only a picture." He rambled on.

"Huh? Yeah, sure." She mumbled not even looking at him.

"What are you reading that is so interesting?" He asked with a laugh reaching for the phone, but Stella quickly shut the phone's screen off and slapped it on the bedside table before Ted could grab it.

"Nothing," she replied with a nervous smile. Ted studied her for a second before shrugging and sinking back under the covers.

"So, do you or don't you want to come with?" Stella bit her lip for a long while before finally nodding.

"Yeah, I haven't seen those guys in forever and I liked them. Is anyone else going to be there?"

"Uh, I don't think so. Well, it's always a possibility that Barney or Robin will stop by. I really don't know. I'm assuming they're still as unpredictable as they were last time I saw them." He laughed slightly.

"People like that never really change, I guess." Ted nodded.

"No, but it's good. It'll be nice to hear some of their crazy single adventures and remember how much I don't miss that." He commented pulling Stella into his arms.

"Yeah," she sighed into his chest, her breathing slowly evening out. Ted smiled down at her before drifting off to sleep himself.


	3. Chapter Three

_Hey, so I updated really fast (almost entirely to do with your kind words, and a little bit because I have three papers to write that I'm avoiding.) Anyway, I like the way this turned out! Hopefully you guys agree. Thank you so much for your feedback and for liking or favoriting this! I have no idea how long this is going to be. We'll see when I stop running out of ideas. Okay, enjoy! (and happy thanksgiving, if you're American!)_

* * *

Robin was planning on spending the day with Barney and Aubrey, but then Lily had called saying she needed Robin to come over for lunch and it was an emergency. She was hoping that lunch would be a quick ordeal, but seeing as she wasn't even sure what Lily needed her for…well, it could be a long day. "Ugh," she groaned pulling on her jacket. "Why couldn't you just go along with the whole I'm sick thing? I didn't want to do anything today." She mumbled sending her husband an accusatory glare.

"Sorry! Lily was pretty insistent that you come over. I'm sure it's something important and you'll be glad you went." Robin pouted, but nodded. "You'll be back before you know it." He assured her tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She mumbled an agreement and glanced over Barney's shoulder at Aubrey who was lounging quietly in her swing. "She'll be fine." He promised gently pushing Robin towards the door.

"Okay, okay, I'm going." She said looking around one more time before turning around and walking out the door. She turned to say something to Barney, but he beat her to it.

"I promise to call you if I need anything. Just go!" He laughed closing the door behind her.

"Fine," she mumbled making her way out of the building.

* * *

"Okay, Barney promised he would watch Aubrey so Robin could come over. Ted and Stella are on their way. Lunch is ready."

"Lil, aren't you just a little worried this might all blow up in our faces?" Marshall asked running a hand through his hair. As much as he wanted to go along with Lily's plan and avoid any bloodshed, he also wasn't sure Robin would go along with the plan. And even if she did, what were the chances that they could get through an entire day without a mention of Barney?

"No, we have to make this work. It'll be fine, Marshmallow." She assured with a light kiss on the cheek.

"Fine…" He conceded placing some food on the table. There was a loud knock on the door.

"That must be Ted. I'll get the door, you get the boys. Time to set this plan into motion." Lily said with a wide smile. Marshall shook his head at his wife and ushered his sons into the living room saying a quick prayer that this dinner would go as planned. Lily opened the front door and Marshall took a good look at Ted realizing his old friend didn't look any different, just a little bit older, which, Marshall figured, they all did. There was a tiny Ted look-alike clinging to Ted's leg and a grown-up Lucy standing behind Stella. They were kind of a picture perfect family and Marshall realized that maybe it was good for Ted to get separation from the group. He looked pretty good, after all.

"Hey, guys." Ted greeted with a smile. "You remember Stella and Lucy," he said gesturing to the women on his left. "And this is Aidan." He grabbed his son's shoulders and smiled proudly.

"Oh, right!" Lily said fussing with her children and gently pushing the boys further into the room. "These are our sons, Jamie and Marvin."

"Ah, Marvin after your dad?" Ted smiled. "I'm sure he loves that." Lily gave Marshall a quick glance and he cleared his throat slightly.

"He actually died shortly before Marv was born."

"Oh my god, dude. I'm so sorry." Ted said sympathetically and Marshall shrugged.

"Yeah, it was hard but it's okay." Marshall smiled. "Why don't you guys come in?" He said closing the door quietly behind him.

"So, are Barney or Robin going to stop by at all?" Ted asked taking a seat at the table. Marshall and Lily shared a quick glance.

"Uh, yeah we're expecting Robin to come by soon, but Barney probably won't show." Lily said with a shrug. Ted opened his mouth to say something, but before he could there was a knock on the door. Marshall gave Lily a long, meaningful glance and Lily quickly got up and hurried out of the room to answer the door.

"Lily, this better be good because I had plans for today." Robin said loudly and Lily quickly shushed her. This needed to go off without a hitch. Lily was not about to deal with a distraught Ted.

"Ted's here!" She said in a whisper/yell.

"WHAT?!" Robin asked loudly.

"Shhh!" Lily scolded again.

"Ted's here and you just invited me over with no warning?!" Robin whispered.

"Look, he wanted to see you and I knew you'd bring Barney and Aubrey with you…"

"Of course I would have."

"And Ted can't know about that." Robin opened her mouth to let out what Lily was sure would've been a string of profanities. "Just hear me out! Okay, we know Ted's not back in our lives for good. Do you really want to spend the rest of the day listening to Ted complain about how Barney stole you away from him or any variation of that story?"

"So, you want me to lie by omitting the fact that I have a husband, who just happened to be one of Ted's best friends, and a daughter for Ted's sake?" Lily scrunched her face up realizing that Robin didn't seem to be coming around on the plan.

"Please? It's only for one day. Please please please!" Robin sighed loudly rubbing a hand over her face.

"Ugh, fine. But I'm not staying long."

"Okay!" Lily said clapping her hands, a wide smile gracing her face.

* * *

Robin was going to kill Lily. She was in no mood to deal with Ted. Honestly, after seeing how upset Barney was about Ted's neglect the other day, she kind of just wanted to wring his neck. But she would play nice because she knew how Ted was. Robin knew that Ted still felt some ridiculous claim over her and she was in not about to listen to him berate Barney for stealing her away. Robin followed Lily into the dining room surprised to see, not only Ted but Stella, Lucy, and Aidan. This was going to be an extremely long dinner. Robin shot a hard glare at Lily before taking a seat at the table.

Fifteen minutes into the little get-together and Robin was ready to leave. Everyone was acting like everything was completely normal. Like Ted hadn't completely abandoned them when he married Stella. Like they weren't all totally different people now. She sighed willing herself just to go with it. She promised Lily an hour. She could give an hour. Although, she was mad at Lily and Lily would definitely be getting a piece of her mind later, now wasn't the time for that though. She could control her emotions for the next 45 minutes or at least she thought she could…that was until the conversation turned toward her.

"So, Robin's what's up with you?"

"Well, I work as a head anchor at WWN now, so everything's pretty good." She managed a smile, but leaving out the parts of her life that made her the happiest was tough.

"What about the good ol' single life?" Ted asked with a smile and she bit back a nasty comment. Why did Ted just assume she was still single? And she could just hear the pretentiousness in his voice as he asked it. She was about to open her mouth to tell him exactly how un-single she was, but Lily spoke before she could.

"It's great! Right, Robin? She actually met a really great guy the other night." And Ted looked at her expectantly.

"Yeah, I love it." She said through gritted teeth.

"So, where's Barney today? I figured he'd be here. Or is he too busy running one of his schemes?" Ted asked and once again, Robin restrained herself.

"Yeah, today he's pretending to need a nanny and then tell some sad story about how his wife died. Then gets the nanny to sleep with him. It's a pretty foolproof system." Lily explained. Robin tightened her hold on her fork and tried her hardest to keep her mouth shut. This was going too far.

"Wow, some things never change. Although, I thought Barney would've grown up at least a little bit by now. It seems like we're kind of old to do things like that anymore. When he said he was going to be pulling schemes until we were eighty, I figured he was kidding." Robin willed Ted to stop talking, because if he didn't shut up, then she would sock him in the face. "I still thought he'd at least stop by to say 'hi'. I mean, it's been, like, seven years. But I guess women were always the most important thing in his life." That was it. That was the final straw. Robin couldn't sit here silently any longer. She loudly pushed herself away from the table getting everyone's attention. Lily shot her a fearful look, but Robin ignored her.

"What do you actually know about Barney, Ted?" She yelled and Ted went to open his mouth, but Robin shook her head. "No, don't speak. If you think that his friends and family aren't the most important things to Barney than you know nothing about him. You were his best friend, Ted, and then you just left him. Just like every other important person to him. You left and it hurt him. You weren't there for all the nights where I had to reassure Barney that you didn't leave because of anything he did. That you were just being selfish when you stopped returning his calls and emails. Do you have any idea how hard it was to get Barney anywhere near his original self after you left? No, you don't because you weren't there! You weren't there for any of it! So, don't sit here and pass judgment on why Barney's not here, because you're so wrong about all of it. I tried to keep my mouth shut and just enjoy this lunch, but I can't sit around and pretend that nothing has changed. Because everything's changed and you don't know about any of it." She stopped to take a breath, not even acknowledging the shocked looks around the table. She turned her attention toward Lily. "And why would you think this was in any way okay? Barney and I have continuously been there for all of you the last seven years, but suddenly Ted is back and we just have to pretend we're all the same people we were because it'll be better for Ted? No, that's not okay. If you'll excuse me, I actually had important plans for the day that didn't include this little get together." Robin ended grabbing her purse and storming out of the apartment. She tried to calm herself down on the cab ride home, but she was still fuming by the time she got home. She opened the door to find Barney lounging on the couch and Aubrey entertained in her swing and instantly felt better, but Barney had already noticed the distressed look on her face.

"What's up?" He asked instantly sitting up to make room for her.

"I hate Ted." She mumbled leaning into him.

* * *

All of the adults in the room had their eyes locked on the door of the room Robin had just stormed out of. "What just happened?" Ted asked with an awkward laugh.

"I told you this wouldn't work!" Marshall whispered to Lily and Ted looked at them.

"What do you mean this wouldn't work? What was 'this'? What are you guys not telling me?" Ted questioned impatiently.

"Look, it's not really our place to tell you." Marshall said standing up.

"Yeah," Lily agreed. "This is something between you and Barney. We shouldn't have interfered in the first place. I should call Robin and apologize."

"Wait, Lil. Give her some time to cool off first, okay? I don't think she'll be very receptive to an apology right now." Marshall smiled at her trying to lessen her guilt and Lily nodded.

"Okay, since you guys obviously aren't going to tell me anything." Ted muttered. "Can you at least tell me how to find Barney and Robin for that matter, I don't want to leave things like that?"

"Uh, yeah." Marshall scribbled down Barney and Robin's address on a scrap of paper handing it to Ted. "That's Barney's address and he can help you with finding Robin too." He offered Ted a small smile, but backed away and Ted nodded. Apparently, he had royally fucked up at lunch today. They were all keeping something from him, something specifically pertaining to Barney and he was worried about what he would find when he eventually got to Barney.

"Alright," Ted muttered. "I guess I'm going to go see Barney. Are you guys gonna be okay?" He asked turning to Stella and she nodded.

"Go, we'll go out and explore the city. Just let us know when you're done, okay?"

"I will." He promised giving her a quick kiss and waving to his kids. He would see Marshall and Lily again, he promised himself as he walked out the door. It wouldn't be another seven years. Now, time to go figure out what the hell happened with Barney.


	4. Chapter Four

_So basically, I just wanted to say that you guys are amazing! Everyone of your reviews/follows/favorites has made me smile. I cannot thank you enough for all of your feedback! Each one of you is perfect and I love you (was that too creepy? Eh, I don't care). Let me know what you thought of this chapter and any other feedback you want to give me! Hope you like it!_

* * *

Barney kissed the top of Robin's head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She hadn't said anything more about Ted since coming in the door and he wasn't going to push her. Her stomach growled loudly and Barney laughed.

"Ugh," Robin groaned her head falling back against the crook in his elbow. "I never got the chance to eat at Lily's."

"Well, we don't have anything here, but I can go out and get some food." He offered and she quickly shook her head.

"No, I'll go. I want to get out and take a walk anyway." She said standing up.

"Are you sure?" He asked following her toward the door. Robin nodded pulling on her coat.

"I'm fine." She assured him. "I just need some time." He nodded in understanding giving her a quick kiss before she walked out the door. He wasn't sure what Ted did, but if Robin was this upset…well, Barney was sure it had something to do with himself. Robin was tough, she wasn't upset when someone said something about her. But he knew how defensive she could be when it came to him and Aubrey. She really was like a protective mama bear, even though she would deny it to her death. He chuckled to himself and bent over starting to clean up the living room. Everything in the house was in a little bit of chaos. The kind of chaos only a newborn could bring. He continued to tidy up, only stopping when there was a knock at the door. He stood up and wiped his hands on his pants trying to get any dirt off. The person knocked again and Barney sighed.

"Hold on." He yelled walking across the room toward the door. "Sorry, I was just-" Barney stopped abruptly when he realized who was at the door. "Ted." He greeted trying not to show any type of revealing emotion.

"Hey, Barney. I was just at Marshall and Lily's." Ted explained and Barney nodded figuring as much. "They said you were busy, which seems clearly untrue but I wanted to come by and see you."

"Uh, yeah. Come on in," he offered moving aside to let Ted in. He closed the door behind Ted and moved toward the kitchen.

"You know, when Marshall and Lily gave me this address I was surprised. I couldn't believe you would ever give up the Fortress of Barnitude." Barney chuckled slightly, but shrugged.

"Well, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. Can I get you anything to drink?"

"No, I'm fine. Just wanted to stop in and see how you were doing." Barney resisted the urge to ask Ted about what had happened at lunch and nodded instead. "Wow, lots of baby stuff," he commented and Barney laughed.

"Well, it was kind of necessary."

"I guess," Ted shrugged. "You really committed to this scheme, then?" Barney crinkled his eyebrows in confusion.

"Huh?"

"Oh, Marshall and Lily told me about it. How you're pretending to have a kid that you need a nanny for and your wife died, so they feel sorry for you and sleep with you."

"What?" Barney asked complete confusion written all over his face, but before Ted could reply the sound of a baby crying came blaring over the monitor.

"Wow, that's pretty authentic. I got to hand it to you, Barney, this was a pretty well thought out play." Barney shook his head trying to think of what to say when another cry was heard.

"Excuse me," he mumbled moving down the hallway to Aubrey's room. So from what he had gathered so far, Lily and Marshall had completely lied about everything. And now he was understanding why Robin was angry. He rubbed a hand over his face knowing what was about to happen. Of course he was going to have to break the news to Ted. This would go over great. He scooped up Aubrey, who instantly quieted in her father's arms, and he smiled. Well, whatever Ted had to say would be worth it because he had an amazing family. He would never get over the fact that Aubrey was half of him, something he and Robin had created together. He smiled at his daughter, gently cradling her in one arm as he walked back out into the living room. And Barney wished he had a camera because the look on Ted's face when Barney walked out with an actual baby was priceless.

"Oh my god! Where'd you get that baby?"

"From her room," Barney explained pretending to misunderstand the question. He wasn't looking forward to what was coming next, so he might as well prolong it and at least get a little joy out of it.

"You didn't steal that baby, did you?"

"No," Barney shook his head at how truly dense Ted could be. "This is my daughter."

"Hah, good one. But seriously, even I know how much you never wanted a kid. Man, you really did go far with this scheme. You borrowed a baby and everything." Barney rolled his eyes.

"Ted, this isn't a scheme. I'm not doing this to sleep with women. Marshall and Lily said that but actually-" Barney was cut off when Ted's phone rang. Ted held up a finger and answered it, speaking quickly with the person on the other line.

"Look, that was Stella. She really wants to get out of here and go home. But I'll definitely be in touch. Take good care of that baby until you return it to wherever you got it from."

"Ted, this really is my daughter." Barney said again showing Ted to the door.

"Yeah, okay. I believe you." Ted said sarcastically. "It really was good to see you again, though. Nice to see that much hasn't changed around here at all." Barney shook his head as Ted walked out the door realizing how little Ted had changed. He had hoped Ted would handle this information like a mature adult, but instead he refused to believe anything Barney said. And he hadn't even gotten the chance to tell Ted about him and Robin. He sighed and let the door close settling back onto the couch with his daughter. If Ted wanted to live in the dark a little bit longer, who was he to mess with that?

* * *

"Today was weird." Ted commented to Stella once they finally got home.

"Yeah," Stella agreed throwing her purse on the table. Ted followed behind her, picking up the purse and hanging it up on its assigned rack.

"I wish I could see them more. I missed so much of Marshall and Lily's kids' lives. I thought I'd be their godfather." He mused more to himself than Stella, he knew she was only half listening. "Maybe I can try and get there every weekend or so."

"You know you can't do that. You coach Aidan's soccer team on Saturday and take Lucy to her dance classes. And Sunday we decided is family day. You just have to accept that you have less time for your friends now. Everyone does." She commented flicking through the mail.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But they seemed so close to Barney and Robin still."

"Well, Barney and Robin don't have kids." Stella reasoned and Ted nodded.

"Although, Barney's pretending he does. I went over there and he had an actual baby. He tried to tell me it was his daughter." They both laughed and Ted continued. "I mean, Barney having a baby. That's as crazy as Robin getting married."

"Yeah." She agreed.

"I'd still like to see them more." He said and Stella gave him a look. "I'm not saying all the time, just once in awhile. I know I have to watch the kids since you work long hours, but I think it'd be fine to leave Lucy home with Aidan for a couple hours."

"I don't think either of them are ready for that yet." Stella said tersely.

"You can't keep babying them. We have to teach them how to grow up." Ted replied.

"They'll learn how to grow up when they're ready, Ted."

"Lucy's in high school, I'm sure she could handle a few hours alone with a pretty self-sufficient four-year-old."

"Don't tell me how to raise Lucy! She's not your child." Ted's eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms.

"Are you really going to play that card, Stella? Tony disappeared after we got married, I'm the only father-figure Lucy has. She calls me dad!"

"But you're not her father. And you're not going to tell me I'm not raising my child correctly." She replied heatedly.

"Fine! If I have no rights to raise Lucy, then maybe you should be around to actually help raise her because I'm the one who does all the work around here. I help the kids with their homework, I make their lunch, I cook them dinner, I drive them to school! You're barely home in time to say goodnight to our son and you don't even go to Lucy's recitals." Stella was silent and Ted nodded in response. "Exactly. You know when we got married, I was so impressed with how involved you were in Lucy's life and what a great mom you were..."

"Are you calling me a bad mom?"

"No! I'm saying you're uninvolved. When was the last time you sat down and had a real conversation with your kids? So don't sit here and tell me I can't go visit my friends because I need to spend time with the kids because I spend a hell of a lot more time with them than you do." Ted said and with that he walked out of the room.

* * *

After a walk in the park and a trip to the grocery store, Robin felt much better. Of course she was still angry with Ted and Lily, but her anger was more manageable than it had been earlier. Now she just had to tell Barney what was going on. She slowly climbed the steps to their brownstone realizing just how long this day had been. She really wanted to climb into bed and just go to sleep. She walked into the house to find Barney lounging on the couch with Aubrey in his arms. She smiled setting the bags down by the door and sitting down next to him.

"Hey," he smiled. "Better?"

"Yeah," she nodded resting her head on his shoulder. "So, what have you two been up to?"

"Well, actually…"

"What?" Robin asked finally coming to attention sitting up.

"Ted stopped by."

"Did you tell him?"

"I tried. Aubrey woke up while he was here and he was convinced that I'd borrowed a baby for some scheme I was running." Barney told her and she tensed up next to him.

"I'm going to kill him." Barney put a comforting hand on her arm.

"Look just give him time. He'll come around."

"No, I don't want to. I want him to own up to his mistakes. I want him to admit that he did things wrong and accept the way things are now without getting upset about it like an immature asshole." She ranted crossing her arms. "What?" She asked noticing Barney was smiling at her.

"You're cute when you're feisty."

"Shut up," she mumbled gently smacking him in the shoulder.

* * *

"Do you think I should call her?" Lily asked glancing at the phone.

"No," Marshall said taking her by the shoulders and leading her to the bedroom. "I think you should sleep and give Robin time to sort through everything. She'll call you when she wants to talk, Lil."

"What if that's never?"

"She's going to forgive you. Don't worry."

"I really screwed up, Marshmallow. I never should have asked her to do that." She mumbled worriedly.

"Baby, Robin will get over it. You're her best friend. She's not going to let that go over a stupid little fight." He assured her.

"It's not stupid, though. I asked her to lie about her husband and her daughter. That's so unreasonable. Why'd you let me do that?"

"I tried to talk you out of it…" Marshall trailed off.

"I should've listened." Lily said miserably.

"Okay, if Robin doesn't call you tomorrow then go over and see her. You can apologize and try and make it up to her somehow. But there's nothing you can do tonight, Lil."

"I'm a terrible friend."

"One mistake doesn't make you a terrible friend." He said wrapping an arm around her.

"I love you."

"Love you too," Marshall replied pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Now get some sleep so you're ready to beg for forgiveness tomorrow." Lily laughed slightly, but climbed into bed already planning out what she was going to say tomorrow.


	5. Chapter Five

_Sorry there's no Marshall and Lily in this chapter but it's after 1 in the morning and this chapter is almost 2,500 words and I really just wanted to get it up. I'll try and make it up to you next chapter! Thank you guys so much for all your kind words. They really do mean a lot to me! And I keep all of your suggestions and comments in mind to try and make this story better! Okay, done rambling now I promise. Hope you like it!_

* * *

Robin was running around about to pull her hair out. She'd barely gotten any sleep last night, Aubrey had been crying for the past forty-five minutes and wouldn't stop, Barney went into work for the morning to catch up on things, and she still couldn't stop going through the events of yesterday in her head. When there was a knock on the door, she thought she might blow a gasket.

"Come in!" She yelled trying to sound somewhat calm. She patted Aubrey's back gently hoping to quiet the baby down, but she continued to scream. Robin grabbed the bottle from the counter hoping that maybe Aubrey would accept it this time, instead of yelling at the top of her surprisingly powerful lungs. Much to Robin's delight, Aubrey took the bottle and she breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, Robin looked up to acknowledge whoever had knocked at the door. "Sorry-" she started, but stopped when she realized whom it was. "Ted," she greeted slightly cold.

"Uh, hey Robin." Ted replied, his eyebrows drawn up in confusion. "I was actually looking for Barney-" Robin cut him off before he could go any further.

"Why? So you could insult him some more?" She spat out. She was really not in the mood to give Ted the time of day.

"I wanted to apologize to you for yesterday…" He trailed off tentatively and Robin snorted.

"You have nothing to apologize to me for." After all, she wasn't mad at him for anything he ever did to her. She was mad at Ted solely for Barney's sake. He didn't deserve to be pushed aside the way Ted had always done to him.

"Okay, well, do you, uh, know where I could find Barney?" He shuffled his feet looking up at her nervously. Robin took a deep breath and let some of her anger dissipate.

"He's at work right now. He should be home in a couple hours." She offered.

"Alright, I'll just come back later then." Robin finally softened. Sure, Ted had been a complete ass the last couple of years but there was a point in her life when she loved him, when he was one of the most important people in her life. She could at least try and make peace with him. She knew it was what Barney wanted. Barney didn't want her to jeopardize her friendship with Ted because of anything that Barney was feeling.

"No, Ted. You can stay and wait for him." Robin gave him a half-hearted smile because they had to start small.

"Are you sure?" She nodded as Ted hesitantly entered the apartment. They sat silently next to each other on the couch: Ted staring at his feet and Robin quietly watching her daughter. Robin let this go on for a couple of minutes before breaking the silence.

"Go ahead," she said looking over at him.

"Huh?"

"I know you want to ask." Ted nodded slightly, tilting his head.

"Okay, what are you doing here? And who is that baby?" Robin laughed slightly resituating Aubrey in her arms and turning to face Ted.

"I'm here because I live here, which you would've noticed if you were paying any ounce of attention when you were over yesterday. And this," Robin said running her finger gently across Aubrey's cheek, "is my daughter, and Barney's, which he told you yesterday and you refused to believe." She watched Ted as he tried not to visibly react, but he looked around the house and his face changed slightly as he slowly took everything in. He was finally realizing Barney had been telling him the truth yesterday.

"Wow, I never pegged you and Barney for a family type." He said and she could detect a slight bitterness in his voice. She chose to ignore it though. She may not have been in the mood to deal with Ted, but she also wasn't in the mood to fight with him. She was so beyond exhausted, so she ignored the bitterness and continued on.

"Yeah, neither did I," she laughed.

"So, when did you decide you wanted kids instead of travelling all over?" _Just ignore it,_ she instructed herself. Nothing good would come out of fighting with Ted.

"When I accidentally got pregnant." She snapped.

"Look, I'm sorry this is just a lot to take in."

"It wouldn't be if you'd been around at all the last seven years." Robin mumbled trying not to raise her voice.

"I didn't have time to come here and see you guys constantly. I thought you'd understand that." Robin ran her free hand over her face in frustration.

"When will you get that this has nothing to do with me?" She asked exasperated. "I'm not mad because you left me or the group. I'm mad because you refuse to acknowledge the fact that you hurt Barney. Not only won't you acknowledge it, but you think for some reason that what you did is okay."

"I don't have to defend doing what was right for my family." He shot back heatedly.

"You didn't do what was right for your family. You did what Stella wanted you to do because you were so desperate to get married and to have a family that you did anything to get it, even if it wasn't what you wanted."

"It was-" Ted started but was interrupted when the front door of the house swung open and Barney came strutting in.

"Honey, I'm home!" He greeted before noticing there was company. Robin stood up and walked over to Barney giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"You know, I think Aubrey's ready for a nap. So, I'll just leave you two…" She gave Barney a supportive smile and walked off to the nursery. As much as she wanted to tear Ted apart on Barney's behalf, she knew it wasn't her place. She had to let Barney fight his own battles. She sighed sitting down in the rocking, she knew Barney could handle it, she just didn't want Ted to hurt him more than he already had.

* * *

"What are you doing here, Ted?" Barney asked tiredly.

"I don't know," Ted replied after a long silence. "I just thought…"

"Thought that you'd come back and we could bro out like we used to and everything would be normal?" Barney finished for him trying to keep the frustration out of his voice.

"Kind of," he admitted meekly. "I thought maybe we'd hit a strip club, go to MacLaren's like old times." Barney laughed humorlessly.

"You can't choose to only be in people's lives when it's convenient for you. That's not how friendship works."

"I know that!"

"No, you don't because that's exactly what you're trying to do right now." Barney sighed running his hand over his hair. He needed to make sure Ted realized what he did.

"Why don't we just call it even?"

"What?" Barney asked his head shooting up. "Call it even? Call what even?"

"Our past discretions, if you will…" Ted said with a slight laugh and Barney's eyes narrowed. If Ted was about to say what he thought Ted was going to say…

"Yeah, I know I completely disappeared from your lives, but you got Robin. And I respect your relationship, but you still kind of broke the bro code." Barney massaged his temples and willed himself to understand where Ted was coming from. Barney had essentially gotten Ted's dream life. He had married a woman, who at one point Ted thought was the love of his life, and had a family with her. The two things Ted had tried to get Robin to commit to for the entire year they were together.

"No, I didn't. You were married before I pursued Robin any further than that one night. You were out of our lives. It's not breaking the bro code, if you weren't my bro anymore." Barney said hoping he could actually get through to Ted in some way. "And to be clear, I didn't "get" Robin, she's not some possession that I won. She chose to be with me. Just because she _chose _not to be with you, doesn't mean you have a right to get angry with either of us."

"You didn't even invite me to the wedding…" Ted sighed putting his head in his hands.

"I tried to tell you that we were getting married, but you didn't answer my calls or emails. I wasn't going to surprise you with a wedding invitation. Plus we hadn't spoken in over a year." Barney shrugged.

"How long have you guys been married?"

"Almost five years," he said matter-of-factly.

"Wow," Ted murmured. "I kind of assumed you got married when Robin got pregnant." Barney chuckled slightly.

"Really? You think I could convince Robin to marry me just because I knocked her up?" Barney shook his head. "She stopped speaking to me for an entire day. Believe me, the way to marry Robin is not through uterus."

"Well, I could never figure out the right way anyway." Ted said with a sigh. Barney took a deep breath, it was time for him to be the better guy.

"It had nothing to do with you. Some people just aren't cut out for this life unless it's absolutely with the right person. And then there's you." Barney smiled punching Ted in the shoulder. He could try and be buddy/buddy with Ted for now. There was a time later in the future for them to have a long conversation about how Barney really felt when Ted left. Then he would explain to Ted what had happened, how he and Robin actually ended up together. But that time wasn't now.

"Yeah," he agreed with a short laugh. "You're right. I, uh, have to go. There's something I need to do. But I'll see you soon."

"So, 7 years then?" Barney quipped following Ted to the door.

"Listen Barney, I'm really sorry about-" Barney shook his head and put his hand up silencing Ted.

"It's in the past. You're here now." Ted nodded gratefully shaking Barney's hand and clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks, man."

"Don't thank me until Robin's speaking to you again."

"Yeah, she's not too happy with me, is she?" Barney shook his head and rubbed his jaw in thought.

"She's a protective one, and as much as she refuses to acknowledge it. It hurt her too." He revealed looking behind him to make sure Robin hadn't overheard.

"Man, I really fucked up, didn't I?"

"It's nothing you can't fix. I promise." Ted nodded one last time in thanks before walking out the door. Barney turned around and smiled as Robin came into view, baby monitor in hand. "Finally get her to sleep?" She nodded and smiled gleefully.

"She's been a handful today." Robin sighed setting the monitor down on the coffee table. "More than usual," she clarified.

"Well, I think we're alone now." He said raising his eyebrows suggestively. She laughed and pushed him down onto the couch and he grabbed hold of her hips and pulled her down with him.

"So, how was Ted?"

"You gotta let up on him, babe." Robin rolled her eyes resting her head on his shoulder. "Seriously, I think he feels bad for what he did."

"I think we've been talking to two different Teds." Robin remarked toying with the buttons on Barney's shirt.

"Are you going to tell me what happened yesterday?" Barney asked brushing some hair away from her face. "And for that matter, did you talk to Lily at all today?"

"No to the second question, maybe to the first one."

"C'mon, Scherbatsky! Tell me!" He pleaded pouting at her and he saw her slowly relent. That old nickname mixed with the pout always worked. It didn't matter that she was no longer technically just Scherbatsky, she still gave into it every single time.

"I showed up at Lily's yesterday and Ted was there, which I wasn't expecting at all. Lily didn't want to tell him about us because, well, obvious reasons. And she kept throwing in stupid little details about all the dates I go on and the schemes you were running." She sighed and he could see little bursts of anger flash in her eyes as she recounted the events.

"That explains why Ted thought all this baby stuff was part of my plan." Robin nodded and continued.

"So then Ted made a whole speech about how he thought you'd be there and that you should be there for your friends and you should've grown up and women shouldn't be the most important thing in your life anymore."

"Well, I hope you let Ted know that women are the most important thing in my life. Two very specific women," he smiled and Robin swatted at his chest.

"Don't get all sappy on me, Stinson." He laughed and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I won't get sappy, but I will get dirty. We're finally alone and Aubrey's sleeping…" He trailed off and Robin jumped up off his lap offering him her hand.

"Lead the way, Mr. Stinson."

"Oh, I will." He smiled swooping her into his arms and carrying her into the bedroom.

* * *

After the door closed behind Ted, he felt like an idiot. He had missed all the obvious signs when he'd been at Barney's house yesterday. Of course, he had been so absorbed in himself and his own problems that he hadn't even really looked past anything in the house other than the obvious amount of baby supplies. He swiped a hand over his face as he walked down the street corner. So, that was that. Robin was married and she had a kid. He couldn't believe it. She had seemed so at ease in the role too. Easily maneuvering the baby around, greeting Barney at the door, rocking the baby to sleep. Everything he always wished she wanted, so he could have that life with her. She was doing it with someone else and it killed him.

The rational part of his brain was telling him that it shouldn't hurt that much. He was married and had kids too, after all. There was probably something wrong if he was still upset about "the one that got away". He needed to talk to Stella. They had a lot to sort out. And he was finally realizing he might have jumped the gun by marrying her. All his friends tried to tell him. Hell, Robin had called him the day of the wedding to try and talk him out of it and he still did it. He didn't listen to the people who knew him the best and he was paying for it. Of course, he didn't regret his marriage. He loved his son and Lucy too, even if she wasn't technically his. He definitely needed to talk it out with Stella. She had been distancing herself lately and acting strange. They would have a nice, long talk. They needed to discuss their fight last night anyway. He groaned as he pulled out the keys to his car. It was going to be one long night.


	6. Chapter Six

_I feel like this one took me longer to post than the other chapters, so sorry for the wait! Uh, I'm not really sure how I feel about this one...I'm probably going to dive deeper into the Ted/Stella thing next chapter. I don't know. This story is honestly the most challenging I've ever written because it's such an AU, but hopefully I'm not doing too terrible. Let me know if I am haha. Anyways, once again I want to thank you for all the nice reviews and everyone who favorites and follows the story because if it wasn't for you guys I probably wouldn't keep writing, so thank you! And happy reading!_

* * *

"So, Lily will be here soon." Barney informed her placing his cell phone on the counter, where it had been before it rang. Robin groaned resting her head on the back of the couch. He smiled sympathetically and sat down next to her on the couch throwing his arm around her shoulders. "You'll feel better once you get this over with." She knew he was right, but that didn't mean she wanted to deal with it. They had only just gotten rid of Ted and now Lily was coming over. It was too many emotional conversations for Robin to deal with on any day, much less a day where she had to take care of a screaming baby on little sleep. "I'll take Aubrey out for a walk, pick up some dinner from your favorite place, and by the time I'm back everything will be fixed." She sighed glancing skeptically at her husband.

"I don't know if it's that easy."

"I know, just wait to see what Lily has to say before you jump down her throat." He reasoned rubbing her shoulder gently.

"When did you become the more reasonable one out of the two of us?" Robin raised her eyebrow.

"I've always been the more reasonable one and you finally realized it." Barney smirked earning a light smack in the chest from Robin.

Ten minutes later, there was a knock at the door and Robin opened it as Barney came out of the nursery, baby strapped to his chest and diaper bag slung over his shoulder. He gave Lily a short head nod and a half-smile.

"We were just going…" He assured. He walked up to Robin giving her a quick kiss. "Good luck and call me if you need me." He whispered quietly in Robin's ear. She gave him a reassuring smile and he nodded in response before exiting the house. As soon as Lily and Robin were alone they looked uneasily at each other.

"Say what you came to say." Robin finally said.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for the other day. I shouldn't have asked you to lie to Ted." Lily apologized.

"It wasn't about lying to Ted. You know that I'd gladly lie to Ted for you, I'd lie to anyone for you, well, except Barney, but it was what you asked me to lie about Lily."

"I know. I know I shouldn't have asked you to keep Barney and Aubrey a secret. I know that." Robin knew Lily was sorry, she didn't doubt that. But Robin also couldn't just accept Lily's apology that easily because what she did was wrong on so many levels.

"Why'd you ask me to do it, Lily?"

"We both know how Ted can be…" She excused weakly.

"Who cares about Ted? He hasn't been around for seven years, Lil. Barney and I have been there with you and Marshall through everything. We're your kids godparents and yet you still chose to protect Ted." Robin said shaking her head.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not even just that you asked me to lie, you gave me absolutely no warning. You invited me over without even mentioning Ted would be there and then asked me to totally leave out parts of my life. And then neither you nor Marshall would stand up and defend Barney when Ted started bashing his lifestyle. A lifestyle that he's not even living!" Robin shouted rubbing a hand over her face.

"I knew you'd say no if I told you beforehand…" Lily admitted quietly.

"Don't you think that should've been a clue?" Robin asked harshly and Lily sighed.

"It should have been, but I wanted to keep everything okay between you guys and Ted." Robin squinted at Lily.

"And you thought completely lying about our lives was the way to do that?" Robin asked in disbelief. "Do you have any idea the position you put Barney in when you sent Ted over here later that day? Ted thought Barney was running that stupid nanny play. He thought that Barney had stolen a baby to make it more authentic. I know you and Marshall don't understand this, but Barney's not exactly proud of his past. And Ted waltzing in here expecting Barney to kick the latest girl out of his bed and take him out to a strip club wasn't the most welcome thing. Especially since Ted was led to believe that Barney and I hadn't changed at all." Robin explained. She wanted to forgive Lily, really she did. But there was also a part of her that needed Lily to really understand how Robin had felt about what happened.

"I'll apologize to Barney too." She offered and Robin quickly shook her head.

"Apologizing isn't going to fix it. You don't realize how much it hurt that you chose your twisted sense of loyalty to Ted over me and Barney who have been there for you time and time again over these past years." Robin was proud of herself, considering Robin of the past never would have never been able to express herself this well. She would've gotten angry with Lily, but she never would have talked it out. Robin would've just given Lily the silent treatment until she was over it and that would've been that.

"You know that our friendship is so important to me, Robin. You're my best friend."

"Best friends don't ask me to do what you did. I'd never ask you to do that, Lily." Robin said shaking her head.

"Robin, I'm sorry."

"I just need a little bit of time, Lily. I need to sort some things out and deal with everything. But I really need some time." Lily nodded understandingly and Robin could see the regret in her eyes. It was too much, though. Robin needed time to process everything. And if that meant having some space from Lily then so be it.

"I completely understand. But I'm here if you need anything at all." Robin managed a small smile and Lily bid her goodbye and left. Robin sighed collapsing on the couch. She almost wanted to mark today as the most difficult day of her life. She was so emotionally exhausted. She smiled slightly realizing the house was completely silent and slowly let her eyes droop close as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Stella?" Ted shouted through the house. "Stell?" He yelled again walking further in taking his jacket off.

"I'm in the kitchen!" She yelled back and Ted could tell by the tone of her voice that she wasn't in a good mood. Well, this would be a great conversation…He walked into the kitchen to find her sitting at the table staring out at the window. Ted tentatively took a seat across from her and sighed.

"I think we need to talk." She nodded in agreement.

"Ted, I have something to tell you." Stella muttered biting her nails in thought. Ted surveyed her for a second and realized she didn't look angry. She looked guilty and he felt a surge of panic shoot through him. What happened?

"O-o-okay," he stuttered out.

"Before I say this I just want to let you know that our marriage has meant so much to me. And your relationship with the kids is still so important, I didn't mean what I said earlier. I need you to understand that." Ted nodded but kept watching her intently. "I've been sort of seeing someone else." She revealed.

"What?!" Ted yelled. "You've been sort of seeing someone? We're married, Stella. That means you don't see anyone else. The whole wedding thing made this an exclusive relationship. Or were you unaware of that?" He spat out and Stella sighed rubbing her forehead.

"I know you haven't been completely happy with our marriage either, Ted."

"Of course I haven't, but I didn't look for someone outside the relationship to fix it." He glared.

"Oh really? Then why have you been going to the city to see your old friends so often lately?" Ted laughed at the complete ridiculousness of her question.

"Because I haven't seen them in years and I'm tired of only having your friends. You can't honestly think I'm going to the city to cheat on you?"

"No. I don't know. These last few months have been so hard."

"Maybe because you're balancing two relationships." Ted remarked.

"Ted, try to understand." She pleaded.

"Okay, fine. Why don't you share with me the dirty details?" He suggested.

"It's Tony," she admitted guiltily.

"TONY?! As in Lucy's father?" She nodded. "What? Why Tony? He hasn't even been in Lucy's life for years."

"He called me a couple months ago-"

"A COUPLE MONTHS?!" Ted interrupted.

"And he wanted to get to know her. He had a change of heart. But I wasn't sure I wanted Lucy around him, so I went out to lunch with him, so I could see how much he'd really changed." She explained

"Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"I didn't know if it was going to go anywhere."

"But we're married, we communicate. You're supposed to tell me when you decide to have lunch with your ex and also Lucy's father, who might come back into our lives."

"I'm sorry."

"You shouldn't even bother apologizing at this point." Ted said shaking his head.

"What did you want to talk about?" Stella asked. "You came in here saying we needed to talk."

"I think we have more important things to talk about now." Ted said putting his hands on the table.

"Ted, please?"

"I was going to ask you if you were happy in our relationship." He informed her. "Which clearly you're not." He mumbled as an afterthought.

"Ted-" She started only to be cut off.

"Do you want a divorce?" He asked bluntly. If the relationship was over, he wanted to know.

"I don't know…"

"Look, seeing how happy Marshall and Lily still made each other after all these years and with two kids…" He sighed and shook his head. "It made me realize how unhappy we are. And now you've just proved it even further." He put his head in his hands. He couldn't believe this was happening. He always thought when he got married, it'd be forever.

"My intention was never to hurt you." Stella said softly reaching across the table to touch his arm. "We just weren't meant to be."

"And you and Tony are?" He asked snidely. She sighed.

"I honestly don't know. But I do know that whatever we have isn't forever. You're not the one for me and I'm not it for you. There's someone else out there, Ted. I promise." Ted shook his head.

"I want it to be you, Stella."

"Me too, but it's not." She shook her head sadly. "We've both known for awhile that our marriage wasn't working."

"Cheating on me was not the solution though!"

"I know and I'm sorry that's what it took for me to finally figure it out." She apologized, her voice full of regret. He understood what Stella was telling him, but he couldn't wrap his mind around it. In a matter of 20 minutes his entire life had been turned upside down and he didn't like it at all.

"You don't think we can fix it?" Ted asked meekly and Stella slowly shook her head.

"I've been thinking about this for awhile and this is the only solution I've come up with. We're too different. We rushed into this marriage and we've been holding on so long for the kids' sake, but not because we actually love each other. That's not a good marriage, Ted. We support each other, sure. But we're not really there for each other at the end of the day like we should be." She said wisely and Ted could do nothing but nod in agreement. She was right.

* * *

Lily walked in the front door, a defeated look on her face. Marshall was there almost immediately leading her to the couch.

"She said she needed time, which I understand. But I really just want my best friend back," she said muffled by Marshall's shirt, which she was leaning into.

"It'll be okay, Lilypad." He promised stroking her hair lightly.

"I know, it just sucks right now."

"I know, but Robin will forgive you and everything will go back to normal. I give it a week tops before you guys are back to best friends." He smiled kissing the top of her head. "And if not you always have me."

"Thanks, Marshmallow." She mumbled leaning against him. "I love you."

"I love you too, Lil."

* * *

"How'd everything with Lily go?" Barney asked walking in the door, depositing the food on the counter and placing Aubrey in Robin's arms.

"I don't know. I asked her to give me some time to sort through everything and she seemed okay with it, but I just feel really guilty." She sighed. Barney gave her a concerned look and sat down next to her.

"It's okay to forgive her. Don't stay mad at Lily for my sake." He told her.

"I'm not, really I'm not." She assured him. "I'm trying to deal with Ted coming back and Lily doing what she did. It's a lot to be dealing with."

"And we also have a newborn to take care of." Robin laughed and nodded.

"That too," she murmured glancing down at their daughter.

"We have the most awesome kid," Barney murmured into her hair.

"We really do, Stinson."

"And now, daddy's finally home." Robin shook her head.

"I'd hit you if I had a free hand right now." She informed him. "You can't make a sexual innuendo out of the word daddy, now that you are one."

"But that makes it work so much better!" He pouted and Robin rolled her eyes at him. "You love me."

"Never said that I didn't."


	7. Chapter Seven

_Kind of a short chapter, sorry! Also I'm sorry this took me so long to get up. I wrote two other stories in between, which I shouldn't have but I did it anyway haha. This chapter isn't very Marshall/Lily heavy at all. But they will be more involved in the rest of the story, I promise! I know no one really enjoys the Ted parts, but they are a necessary evil. And I wanted to give more backstory on Barney and Robin, so that's why I included that whole flashback. Also, this chapter was on the upbeat side because I listened to I Wanna Be (500 Miles) the entire time (and I do mean entire) I was writing this chapter. I should probably turn it off or I might go insane. Thank you guys again for the crazy amount of reviews I've gotten! I really appreciate it. I also appreciate anyone who read, favorited, or follows this story. I'm glad there are people actually reading it! Anyway, sorry if there are any glaring errors I missed, I only read over it once. And let me know what you thought!_

* * *

"You know, one day when she gets older," Barney said looking down at Aubrey in his arms. "I'm going to tell her the story of how we met." Robin raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"You mean, how mine and Ted's eyes met across a crowded room and Ted said, 'hey Barney, see that girl?' and you said, 'oh yeah, you just know she likes it dirty.' That's a beautiful story to tell our daughter." Robin deadpanned, her head resting on Barney's shoulder.

"Well I was right, wasn't I?" He asked with a wide smile.

"Regardless of whether you were right or not-"

"I was," he interrupted and Robin rolled her eyes.

"That's still not a story a child would want to hear about their parents."

"My mom told me stories about her sex life all the time!" Barney protested.

"And look how that worked out for you," she commented with a wicked smile and Barney laughed.

"Fair point." He nodded. "I wasn't talking about that story anyway. I meant the story of how we finally got together."

"Finally?" She questioned. "It only took, like, four years. And one of those I was dating Ted and another one of those Ted was trying to get me and another one of those you were too busy being a playboy. So really, more like a year."

"Can we stop talking about Ted?" He whined. "And it was half a year that I was in love with you and you wouldn't acknowledge me. Gosh, give me more credit than that." Robin laughed and pressed a kiss to Barney's cheek.

"I'm sorry, half a year."

"Anyway, if you would have just let me get through what I was saying to begin with. One day, I'm going to tell Aubrey the story of how we got together."

"You want to tell me that story?" She asked looking up at him through her lashes. "I was pretty drunk that night."

"And I was pretty queasy and drunk and I still remember it." He shot back. "But if that was a misguided attempt to get me to tell the story then it worked, Scherbatsky."

"You know I'm not Scherbatsky anymore."

"And you know I don't care." He replied. "So the story begins with a cold day in November. Robin was lost in life and the Barnman came to the rescue."

"You don't have to be so dramatic about it," she mumbled into his shoulder. "Besides, I totally saved you that night." Robin huffed.

* * *

_Robin was a Woo girl. And yeah, okay it was totally hot. Or at least it would have been if he wasn't completely in love with her and more worried about her than turned on by it. He sighed sending Robin one last fleeting look before doing the test tube shot with Marshall._

_Hours later, after Barney had escaped the bull (finally). Marshall tied him to it, after finding out he hadn't told Ted about a potential architecture gig. Whatever, Ted hadn't even talked to him since he got married. He was stumbling around the bar, still trying to remain stable after the longest bull ride of his life. As soon as he thought he was ready to collapse he noticed a booth to his left and pulled himself into, letting his head fall to the table. _

"_You okay, bud?" He heard an amused voice ask and he looked up to find Robin looking at him, a smile playing at her lips. He mumbled incoherently against the table. "I'm sorry, you're going to have to repeat that." _

"_I hate Marshall." Barney said picking his head up off the table. _

"_Aw, did someone not like their punishment?" She asked in faux sympathy. _

"_It was mean!" He protested weakly. _

"_Well, I'll sit here until you regain proper function of your legs." He smiled and then they were silent for a couple of minutes. Once he felt at least somewhat normal again, he glanced over to Robin who was frowning at the table. _

"_Hey, are you okay?" He asked softly. He knew she didn't like being worried about in any way, but he was worried and he was going to make sure she was okay._

"_M'fine." She unconvincingly mumbled and he raised an eyebrow at her in challenge. _

"_Really? Robin, you wooed tonight! I never thought you would woo." She sighed and he could tell she was getting ready to tell him something. _

"_Do you ever feel like you're stuck? Like everyone else's lives are off getting better and you're still here in the same place you always have been?" _

"_I don't know what you're talking about. My life is pretty awesome." He proclaimed, but Robin leveled him with a look. Okay, they were being serious. He could be serious. "I don't know. Sometimes." He shrugged. "I mean, Marshall and Lily are getting ready to have a kid and Ted just got married. And yeah, I love my job but I want something more than that." He admitted quietly, not even daring to glance at Robin. _

"_I don't even have a job." Robin said in a strangled voice. "God, I'm going nowhere." _

"_What?" He asked incredulously sliding over to her side of the booth to wrap an arm around her shoulder. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." _

"_It's true. I went to Japan to further my career and it ended up being worse than Metro News 1 and now they don't even want me back." _

"_We're going to find you a kickass job, Scherbatsky. Because anyone would be crazy to pass you up." And maybe what happened next was a result of the alcohol in both their systems or maybe it was just chemistry but suddenly they were kissing. And it was amazing and everything Barney wanted, but then she pulled away. _

"_Barney, I-" But before she could finish, he had to say something. _

"_I love you." He blurted. Okay, not the most romantic way he could have done that, but he's Barney Stinson and she's Robin Scherbatsky and romance was the last thing either of them cared about. She didn't say it back, of course not. It was Robin, but she pulled him in for another kiss. _

* * *

And that was more or less the story of how they got together. Of course things happened after that. They eventually had to set boundaries. No strip clubs for him, no letting random men buy drinks anymore for her. They defined their relationship at their time without pressure from Marshall and Lily, who were far too busy trying to start a family to pay attention to the fact that Barney and Robin were sleeping together. It worked too. Obviously they had their problems, every couple does, but they were able to work through them pretty easily.

"We're pretty great together, aren't we?" Robin asked with a fond smile on her face.

"Pretty great? No, we're legendary." He said without argument. "And don't ever refer to us as anything other than legendary. It's pretty demeaning actually."

"Yes sir," she said mockingly.

* * *

So that was it. They were definitely getting a divorce. Ted had tried everything he could to talk Stella out of it and she wouldn't budge. He understood. They weren't in love anymore and she thought she could be in love with someone else. As much as it hurt him, he had to let her go. But he was worried about the kids. He really had no legal claim over Lucy, so if Stella was cruel enough he'd probably never see Lucy again. He didn't think she would be that cruel. After all, she cheated on him. She wasn't really in the place to start taking everything away from him. He was going to give her the house. This was her territory. She lived here before they were married. And honestly, he had no reason to stay in New Jersey if they were divorcing. He missed the city and the constant commotion and his friends. He missed his friends and moving back to the City insured that it would be a lot easier to stay in their lives.

Ted sighed glancing through their wedding album. He must be a masochist because he had been doing nothing but going through their memories the past couple days. He kept looking back on happier times: when they got married, when Aidan was born. It was sad, but therapeutic. He was finally realizing what Stella had known for awhile now; they weren't meant to be. Sure, they were happy for some time. He thought they could be happy forever and they could have. Maybe not in a soulmate way, but they were friends above all else. They just weren't right for each other. A fact he kind of knew from the beginning, but had chosen to ignore because he wanted to be happy. And he wanted to Stella to be the one, even though everyone told him she wasn't.

Sometimes his mind went back to the night before his wedding. Robin had called him and told him not to do it. Looking back now he saw all the things Robin saw without the being blinded by the promise of a future and she had been right. That wedding wasn't anything he wanted, it was Stella's sister's wedding and he had just accepted that. He wasn't that kind of guy at all. Marriage was a forever deal, he was only going to have one wedding. He told Robin she was wrong and hung up on her. She didn't come to the wedding and they barely spoke after that phone call. He regretted it all now. Although, if he hadn't married Stella then he wouldn't have Lucy and Aidan and he couldn't imagine his life without them. But still Robin had been right. And he accused her of being jealous of him. He shook his head, God, he could be an idiot sometimes.

Robin was a huge chapter of his life. She was someone he had trusted a lot, someone who used to know him better than he knew himself. Someone he really truly believed was his one, his soulmate. He still believed it sometimes. He never had the connection with anyone else that he had with Robin. Yeah, he loved Victoria and of course he had loved Stella but Robin was in a completely different league. She was Robin. He felt like he missed that boat big time and let Barney pick her up. He could have had that life with Robin. That was all he wanted with her and she did it with Barney Stinson of all people. He wondered how they got together. If they just sort of ended up together after he left and Marshall and Lily had kids, or if it was more complex than that. He really had no idea. He wanted to know, though. He needed to know. And he really wanted to talk to Robin.

* * *

"That was Ted." Marshall said solemnly sitting down at the table. "He and Stella are getting divorced."

"What?" Lily asked, her eyes widening.

"I guess Stella's been cheating on him and she finally came clean." He explained.

"And that's it? They're done?"

"Well, Ted tried to fight her on it, but she really wanted the divorce so he had to deal with it." Marshall ran a hand through his hair. "I feel really bad for him, Lil." Lily took a deep breath steeling herself for what she was about to suggest. She wasn't Ted's biggest fan, but he was going through a hard time. They used to be best friends, after all.

"Maybe he could stay with us for a little while?" She tried to convince herself this was a good idea, a good idea that wouldn't blow up in their face in some way. "You know, just until he gets back on his feet and finds his own place."

"I think that's a really good idea. We could help him get back to old Ted. The one we were friends with and everything."

"And it would definitely be good for him to get out of the house he has with Stella. Right now he probably hates her." Marshall shook his head.

"He just seemed sad. Really, really sad. Not angry or anything else, but really sad."

"Are you okay, Marshmallow?" She asked her eyes filling with sympathy.

"I should have been there for him."

"He left us. You tried as much as you could have back then. Don't beat yourself up over this." Lily instructed in her motherly tone.

"You're right," he sighed rubbing a hand over his face.

"I know I am." She smiled. "Look, Ted will stay with us for a couple days, you'll get your friendship back on track and everything will be okay again."


	8. Chapter Eight

_Hi, I'm back! God, I've written so much this week. I guess I can thank this week's HIMYM for giving me all the inspiration I need. And I've got to be honest sometimes I still rewatch the last 10 minutes of the episode and cry (several times a day...). Anyway, this chapter is all about Barney and Robin. I didn't have the heart to make Ted the bad guy in this chapter for one but also, by the time I was done writing the B/R portion of this chapter it was already long enough to stand on its own, so I left it. I hope I did an okay job with it! Next chapter is definitely going to see a lot more fallout from the whole Ted situation, I promise. Thank you guys once again for all the reviews and favorites and alerts! I was really hesitant when I started this story so I'm glad you're all at least kind of enjoying it! Okay, hope you like it!_

* * *

"We have to move." Robin muttered walking into the living room where Barney was lounging on the couch and Aubrey was napping in her swing. She tossed her phone onto the coffee table and sat down on the couch throwing her legs over Barney's lap.

"Why?" He asked in amusement letting his hands wander over her legs.

"Laugh now, but wait until I tell you."

"I'm sure it's very serious." He said unable to keep his laughter under control and Robin glared at him and crossed her arms. "Are you going to tell me?" He asked swiping his hand across her ankle. Before she could answer Barney's phone started ringing.

"Marshall," he announced holding it up and Robin nodded for him to answer it. The conversation was quick, Robin couldn't pick up on much by hearing Barney's side and it seemed like Marshall was mostly relaying information. By the time the phone call was over, Barney's mood seemed to have darkened slightly. The playful twinkle that was in his eye before was gone and he was frowning. Whatever that had been about, it couldn't have been good. "You were right. We should move." He let his head fell against the back of the couch. "Ted and Stella are getting a divorce. He's moving in with them until he gets back on his feet. Marshall wanted to give us a warning." He sighed.

"So, I guess we can expect Ted to start being around again." Robin said biting her lower lip. She understood why Barney was unhappy with the situation. After all, this was essentially the second time Marshall and Lily had sided with their loyalty to Ted over their friendship with them, but Barney actually seemed upset.

"Yeah, single Ted is back. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he's over here trying to win you back." He commented staring at the ceiling. So, that was what this was about. She knew he wasn't upset just because Ted was back. Robin quickly sat up and moved closer to Barney and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"Well, hopefully he respects our relationship enough to not try anything with me but even if he did it wouldn't matter. I married you, I love you, and nothing Ted says could ever change my mind about being with you, okay?" She assured him running her hand through his hair. He nodded as she settled down next to him.

"Ted's sense of entitlement with you just bothers me." He muttered. "I know he saw you first, but I've been married to you for five years. I think that means he should back off."

"Don't worry about it, okay?" Robin requested. She didn't want him to think about Ted at all. She could handle herself when it came to Ted, besides he was in the middle of getting a divorce. She highly doubted that Ted would even be interested in other women right now.

"Oh, what did you want to talk to me about before Marshall called?" Barney asked suddenly remembering that Ted hadn't been their original topic of conversation.

"Oh right," she sighed threading her hands together. She had completely forgotten about that. "My dad's coming for a visit." He stilled and looked over at her in surprise.

"What?"

"Apparently his company has business to do in New York and they're sending him. And he figured while he was here he might as well have lunch with his daughter, so he can point out everything that's wrong with my life." She had gotten over her daddy issues, really she had. When her father hadn't showed up for her wedding she decided she was done seeking his approval. She had Barney now; she didn't need her dad. She accepted that she was always going to be a disappointment to him, but that didn't mean anything. She had a successful career and an amazing family. If her father didn't want to accept that, then it was his loss. And she truly, truly believed that. But even though she was done seeking his approval, it still stung to hear what he thought about her.

"You don't have to see him if you don't want to." Barney said tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"He's my dad." She shrugged. "And I haven't seen him since before our wedding."

"Yeah, because he didn't care enough to come. You don't owe him anything."

"I know. But maybe he changed." She said quietly.

"And maybe he's the same asshole who raised you as a boy and wouldn't come to our wedding, who still hasn't met his granddaughter." Barney replied heatedly and Robin rolled her eyes in annoyance. Did he think she couldn't take care of herself?

"He's coming over for lunch on Saturday and that's that, okay?" He sighed and nodded.

"I'm sorry, I know you can handle yourself when it comes to your dad. It's just- he always hurts you and I hate that you let him get to you that much." She knew Barney was thinking of all the various phone calls she received from him over the years.

"He's my dad," she said by way of explanation. "And seeing the way you are with your dad now…" She shifted pulling her knees up to her chest. "I wish I had that with mine." Barney nodded and wrapped an arm around pulling her into him.

"I know you do. But I don't want you to be disappointed if it doesn't work out like you want." He said softly kissing the top of her head.

"I won't. I have to give it a shot, though."

"I'll be here the whole time," he promised. "As long as you're okay with that." Robin laughed and turned so she could look at him.

"Of course. I can't do this without you anymore than you could without me."

"When did we become so co-dependent?" Barney asked with a chuckle.

"I blame you."

"Oh, really?"

"Mmm," she nodded kissing him softly and Aubrey started crying. Robin laughed pulling away resting her forehead against his.

"I think our third co-dependent needs some assistance." Barney commented, his eyes drifting over to where their daughter was resting. Robin got up making her way across the room and gently picking Aubrey up, who instantly quieted in her arms. "You've got the magic touch."

"Always have." Robin winked reclaiming her previous spot on the couch.

"Scherbatsky!" Barney exclaimed wide-eyed and she resisted the urge to correct him, he didn't care that she wasn't technically Scherbatsky anymore. " Did you just make a sexual innuendo in front of our daughter?"

"Like you're one to scold, you make at least one a day in front of her." He laughed and shook his head.

"I'm not scolding, I'm proud. Look how far you've come." She rolled her eyes as Barney beamed at her.

"You are unbelievable." Barney's grin turned lecherous and she shook her head. "Seriously unbelievable."

* * *

Robin's dad was coming today, in a matter of minutes actually and Barney was nervous. Not to meet Robin's dad, he had done that before, but he was nervous for how this would turn out for Robin. Because her father had the uncanny ability to completely crush her. An ability that few people had since Robin protected herself so well. The problem was that her father didn't realize how much power he had over her. The last thing he wanted was for Robin to get hurt and if she did, well, Robin Scherbatsky Sr. would have hell to pay. Barney wouldn't hesitate to dish it right back.

He glanced over at Robin who was fidgeting and he placed a hand on her knee to still her. "It's going to be okay." He assured her and she nodded.

Aubrey was resting comfortably on his chest and he gently rubbed her back. He looked down at her to find her eyes fixated on his tie, which she quickly grabbed and started pulling on. "Always gotta go for the tie, don't you?" He asked her. Aubrey briefly stopped to look at him before giggling and pulling on it again. He shook his head at her, but kept the smile on his face. She tugged on his tie one more time before shoving part of it in her mouth chewing on it. "You're lucky I'm not wearing a good tie."

He heard Robin laugh and thanked God that her nerves seemed to have calmed a littler. He didn't want Robin to put too much stake into this because he was pretty sure that man was never going to change. And it was a shame, he was missing out on the most amazing woman. He froze when there was a heavy knock on the door. Well, this was it.

"I'll get it." She said standing up and he got up too following her to the door. There was no way he was letting her do any of this alone.

"RJ," her dad nodded brusquely when she opened the door.

"Dad," she returned in the same tone.

"Mr. Scherbatsky," Barney greeted giving Robin a break from her dad's stare. Robin's dad nodded in his direction but then soon focused his gaze on Aubrey.

"Is this the, uh, little one?"

"Dad, this is your granddaughter Aubrey." Robin told him as Barney shifted the baby in his arms so he could actually see her.

"Still not a boy," the man scoffed. Barney sighed as Robin Sr. entered the dining room where lunch was set out. He hadn't even been in the house for five minutes and Barney was already about to toss him out. This just needed to be over with as soon as possible. He and Robin shared an uneasy look before following her father into the dining room. Barney placed Aubrey in the playpen in the corner of the room as everyone took their respective seats at the table. The first several minutes of the meal were silent until Robin Sr. finally spoke up.

"So, RJ, how's your career going?" He asked but Barney could almost hear the sneer in his voice as if the idea of Robin's career was laughable. Barney's grip on his fork tightened and Robin squeezed his knee under the table. He knew he needed to calm down, this wasn't his battle to fight and Robin didn't want him to fight it. So he needed to relax.

"It's good. I'm one of the evening news anchors at World Wide News. I actually just went back to work." She explained.

"Went back? Why on Earth were you taking time off?" Robin sighed in frustration.

"I had a baby. I had to take some time off."

"Your career should be more important to you than that." He said pointing his silverware accusingly at Robin.

"It is important to me." She said through gritted teeth. Barney gave her a reassuring smile. They could get through this lunch. "I didn't want to take time off, but it was a necessity."

"Well, these are things that you have to think about before having a child."

"I wasn't planning on having a child." She huffed.

"So this was an accident? That's very irresponsible, RJ." Her father said glaring across the table and in that moment Barney understood exactly what Robin grew up with. He was being extremely condescending and difficult and obviously nothing Robin said would make him any less disapproving of her lifestyle.

"Stop talking to me like I'm a child!" Robin said raising her voice. Of course because of Robin raising her voice, Aubrey quickly burst into tears. Robin put her head in her hands letting out a long sigh. Barney pushed away from the table. He knew Robin needed time alone with her dad to tell him how she felt truthfully and she needed to do it alone. Because if Barney spent too much more time with this man, well, it wasn't going to be pretty.

"I got it." He assured Robin pressing a kiss to her forehead in support before grabbing a screaming Aubrey out of the playpen and heading toward the nursery. The baby quieted almost as soon as she was out of the room and Barney felt a surge of relief. He was worried this would be one of those times where she started screaming and didn't stop.

She seemed to be entertained with the toy in her hand, so he relaxed on the rocking chair in the corner straining his ear to try and hear anything from the other room. He heard raised voices but couldn't make out any of the words being said. But after ten to fifteen minutes of conversation (to be honest he had no idea what was going on because he couldn't hear anything but he assumed conversation was happening), the front door slammed shut and Robin entered the nursery looking defeated. Dammit. He knew this was going to happen. He quickly stood up and handed Aubrey off to Robin before rushing out the door.

"Excuse me, Mr. Scherbatsky!" Barney yelled when he finally caught up to him toward the end of the block. The man turned around in surprise and looked at Barney expectantly.

"You are an idiot." Barney started and Robin's dad opened his mouth to speak, but Barney quickly continued. "You have the most amazing daughter and you will never know it because you're too busy being angry that she's not a boy. And you know what? That's fine. You don't deserve to get to know or take pride in a daughter that you did nothing but tear down. And even with your terrible parenting skills Robin is still somehow the most intelligent, funniest, most incredible woman I have ever met. I just want you to know that this is your loss, not Robin's. She'll be perfectly fine without you. Now I'm going to go back to my unbelievably stunning wife and our equally gorgeous daughter. Hopefully, I'll see you again on better terms. But if not, walking away was the biggest mistake of your life." Barney said giving Robin Sr.'s face a quick look to make sure he got the message before shoving his hands in his pockets and heading back inside his home.


	9. Chapter Nine

_First off, Merry Christmas everyone! And if you don't celebrate, happy Tuesday! This chapter is not all that exciting, it's mostly setting up the action for the rest of the story. Anyway, thank you guys so much for the reviews and feedback thus far! I appreciate every review and favorite and follow this story gets and you guys are the best ever! Okay, enjoy!_

* * *

"Seriously, thank you guys so much for doing this." Ted said as he carried the last of his stuff into Marshall and Lily's house. Ted was suddenly realizing how much he regretted cutting off contact all those years ago. Marshall and Lily were his best friends since college. How the hell did he let that go so easily? Just because he thought he found the one, what a joke.

"It's really no problem, Ted. We're happy to have you around." Lily assured him with a small smile on her face. "Plus Marvin and Jamie will love having a new person in the house." Well, at least there would still be kids in his life. Since Aidan had no place to stay with Ted, he was stationed at Stella's house for the time being. Another reason Ted really needed an apartment. And a job. God, he had to find a job. How was that going to happen? He hadn't even been working the last 5 or so years. No one would want someone that outdated. Ted rubbed a hand over his face and let out a weary sigh. Marshall gave him a sad smile as if he knew exactly what Ted had been thinking.

"C'mon buddy, let's get your stuff to the guest room." Marshall said hauling one of Ted's bags upstairs. Ted quickly followed him surveying the house as he walked past everything. He was happy for his friends. They seemed to have really created a great life. He could see traces of the family everywhere, the tiny crayon marks on the walls, the baby pictures lining the walls, and toys scattered throughout the house. This was what he had with Stella. Admittedly less happy and more stressful than this one, but still they had had a life. One she threw away to be with Tony, and yeah maybe Stella wasn't the love of his life but it still hurt like hell. "You okay?" Marshall finally asked once they were in the bedroom. Ted laughed humorlessly and shook his head.

"How can I be? Stella left me for another man. And he's not even a decent guy. He's been missing from Lucy's life for years and now, what? That's all fixed just because she's in love with him?" Marshall nodded glumly.

"That's how love works, Ted, at least when you finally find the right person, that's how it works. You can forgive almost anything. Because the alternative is them not being in your life, which is too hard to even think about." Ted thought back to the summer after Lily left Marshall. He remembered how completely destroyed Marshall had been and yet just a couple months later, they were back together.

"What if I never find that?"

"You will." He assured Ted clapping him on the back. "She's out there. Hell, maybe you've already met her and don't even realize." Marshall said with a laugh. Ted's mind immediately flashed to Robin. It was always Robin. He never would stop thinking about her because at one point he had been so, so sure that she was the one. After all, she had met every one of his criteria except that she didn't want marriage or kids, which unfortunately had been the two biggest points. But now she had that, with Barney Stinson of all people. He couldn't help but wonder how that came about. If they really were in love or if they had sort of ended up together out of convenience. He hadn't spent really any time with them as a couple. Whenever he had been with one of them the other one left or was conveniently absent.

"So, Barney and Robin?" Ted said after a few minutes of silence. "That's kind of crazy." Marshall laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, it was a little unexpected but they work. They're a surprisingly conventional couple." Dammit Marshall. That didn't tell him anything. He wanted to know how they got together and why and how the hell had they ended up with a baby? He felt like he'd been plopped in the Twilight Zone just thinking about the fact that Barney and Robin had gotten married, much less procreated.

"How did that even happen?" Marshall shrugged.

"Well, you got married and moved to New Jersey, while Lily and I started focusing on having a family. They hung out a lot just the two of them. Lily and I would leave MacLaren's and they'd follow us out and head to the cigar bar or laser tag or whatever the hell it is that Barney and Robin do for fun." Marshall laughed slightly shaking his head good-naturedly and Ted winced slightly at the fondness in Marshall's voice. Ted thought he would always kind of have claim over Marshall. But then he disappeared for seven years. Obviously Marshall had grown closer to Barney and Robin. Ted couldn't begrudge him for that. "But I guess after spending all that time together, they realized they worked. I'm actually still a little fuzzy on the details. Barney and Robin are both pretty secretive people. And if anything it's just gotten worse."

So that was it? There was no giant declaration of love from either of them. They just realized they worked? Okay, Ted could do something with this. He had to at least try, right? The one reason he didn't end up with Robin had been made irrelevant. Of course there is the whole issue of her marriage to Barney, but he was going to ask around about that. There was no way that they could be as content and happy as they seemed around him. It was Barney and Robin, they probably both wanted out.

Marshall hadn't been too much help, which wasn't his fault. He had obviously been kept in the dark. That further reinforced Ted's point. Ted was sure that not everything in the Stinson household was what it seemed. Now he just needed to talk to Lily, then he would go straight to the sources. He had a feeling Lily would be more help than Marshall though, since she at least had an in with Robin. After all when Ted was with Robin, Lily had known everything about their relationship. Yeah, he would talk to Lily later when Marshall wasn't around. He didn't need anyone thinking he was fishing for information. And he wasn't really…he wanted to know Robin was happy. That was it. As her former ex-boyfriend it was his job to make sure she was happy and if she wasn't. Well, maybe he could do something about that.

* * *

Barney and Robin were lounging comfortably in their bed after an extremely long and tiring Saturday. They had had lunch with his mom, Tom, James, and the kids. Then they went over to his dad's for dinner. Of course he was thankful to have his family in his life, but seeing both parents in one day especially with a two month old had taken a toll on them. Aubrey fell asleep on the car ride home and he had his fingers crossed that she'd sleep at least a couple of hours. He really needed some decent sleep.

"Good day?" Robin questioned letting her head rest against his chest.

"Mmhm," he grumbled in affirmation slinging an arm around her waist. "But let's wait a couple months before we try and do all that in one day again."

"Let's make them come here next time." She murmured sleepily into his shirt.

"Then we'd have to clean our place, though."

"Ugh, good point." She sighed. "So, things are good with your dad?" Robin asked propping her head up at on her elbow.

"Yeah." Barney nodded. "He's trying, y'know? I mean it might have come a little too late, but he really wants us to have a relationship." He said toying with the strap of Robin's tanktop. "And I want that too."

"I sense a 'but' coming…" Robin trailed off cajoling him to keep speaking. She was so good at that. Not forcing him to tell her anything, but giving him enough encouragement that he would continue to talk.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Sometimes it's hard to see him with little Jerry because he wasn't there for me like that. And I know that he's a completely different guy than he was when I was kid, plus my mom cut him out of my life. But I wish I would've had that with him. I mean as much as I love my mom she wasn't really around when I was a kid either…" He ran a hand through his hair letting it drop limply at his side before smiling slightly. "Maybe it's for the best though. Now Tom and I both know what not to do with our kids." He chuckled and Robin smiled rubbing his arm comfortingly.

"Yeah, Aubrey's lucky. She's got a pretty awesome dad."

"Pretty awesome?" Barney asked teasingly raising an eyebrow.

"Alright," she conceded. "Really awesome."

"That's more like it." He nodded approvingly before turning the conversation serious again. "How are you?" Robin squinted up at him confusion on her face.

"I'm fine?"

"I meant about your dad." He said rolling his eyes and she smiled up at him shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah," she sighed and Barney raised an eyebrow unconvinced. "Really, Barn, I'm fine. I mean, I've always known my dad wasn't going to change."

"That doesn't mean you're not allowed to be upset." He pointed out.

"I know. But I don't need my dad. I have more important people in my life now. What he thinks about me doesn't matter." They laid there in silence for a few minutes enjoying each other's company and the peace and quiet before Robin finally asks the question she had been wondering about since her father's visit. "What'd you say to him?"

"Hmm?" He asked half-distracted by whatever he'd been thinking about in the silence.

"I know you went after my dad. What did you say to him?" She repeated rolling over onto her stomach, so she could look Barney in the eye.

"The truth," he murmured with a small smile reaching up and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Barney," she laughed trying to give him a stern look.

"I told him that he was an idiot and you turned out amazing despite his total lack of skill where parenting was concerned." Robin smiled and leaned up to kiss him soundly.

"You know if your father didn't turn out to be so great, I would've given him the same speech."

"I'm pretty sure half the reason my dad stuck around was you." He said wryly.

"Yeah, Jerry does love me." He rolled his eyes lovingly.

"Speaking of mending fences and everything, when are you going to talk to Lily?"

"I was thinking of going over there tomorrow, but then I remembered Ted's staying there." She grumbled and Barney laughed softly.

"Go over there and just be civil with Ted. I know you miss Lily."

"I do," Robin conceded. "But it's hard to not be upset with her over everything with Ted."

"I know, but she's your best friend. And Ted's going through a hard time, maybe we should be happy Marshall and Lily are there for him." He said with a sigh. It wasn't that Barney was entirely happy with the situation, after all Marshall and him had become really close the last couple of years. But he knew that Robin was way more upset for him than he was. "Just-try not to be so hard on Lil, okay? She's trying to please everyone here." Robin nodded reluctantly and he knew he'd won her over. He was looking out for her. He knew she missed Lily. "Besides you're more angry with Ted than you are with Lily."

"I'll go over there tomorrow." She promised. "But you're coming with me."

"Of course," he assured her. "Plus it's been so long since Marshall and I have gotten to watch a game."

* * *

"Hey Lily," Ted greeted catching her in the kitchen long after the kids had gone to bed, while Marshall was in the shower.

"Hi," she smiled turning around in surprise. "Did you need something?"

"Oh no, everything's great. Thanks." He said gratefully taking a seat at the kitchen table.

"So, what's up?"

"Nothing, I was just thinking about how much everything has changed in the group." He started trying to lead into the topic as discreetly as possible. "I guess I always figured you and Marshall would have kids eventually. But never thought Barney and Robin would." Lily nodded in acknowledgment, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, no one did but I think it was good for them." She said wiping down the counter.

"I really can't wrap my head around it." Ted shook his head. "Marriage and children and Barney and Robin were words I'd never thought I'd hear related to each other." Lily sighed draping the towel she was using over the sink and turning toward Ted.

"Look Ted, I don't know where you're going with this but you should stop. Marshall and I welcomed you into our home and lives again and we still love you, Ted, but Barney and Robin are our best friends. We've all been there for each other these past couple years and we'll continue to be there for each other. Robin and Barney are happy and they love each other, okay? If you do anything to mess with that, Ted Mosby-" Ted quickly cut her off when he realized this was going nowhere good.

"I was just asking, okay. Don't worry. I wouldn't mess with their relationship." He said mustering up as much sincerity as he could and Lily nodded in satisfaction.

"Good."


	10. Chapter Ten

_Happy New Year, everyone! This took me a little longer than I wanted it to but I got it done! This chapter jumps around a lot because I wanted you to be able to see what everyone was thinking at one point, well, minus Marshall and Lily they're more in the background than anything. I can't believe I got this whole thing written before 9 pm. Normally I don't post this until 2 or 3 in the morning. Yay for accomplishments! Anyway, don't hate Ted too much. He's going through a lot. And it will get worse before it gets any better...sorry! Thank you guys for all your reviews and follows and favorites, you have so far exceeded my expectations for this story and I seriously appreciate it._

* * *

"It's going to be fine." Barney assured Robin, laughing at her reluctance to leave for Marshall and Lily's.

"I know that." She grumbled picking at her nails.

"Okay, then, let's go." He said sweeping his arm in display at the door as he opened it. She sighed and stood up grabbing Aubrey's diaper bag while Barney picked up the car seat.

"Do you think it'll be awkward with Ted there?" She asked once they were situated in the cab. "I feel like I don't even really know how to talk to him anymore."

"Don't worry," he said letting his hand rest on her leg. "We'll have Marshall, Lily, and the kids there as buffers." She nodded and let her head fall back against the headrest.

Honestly, she was ready for all of this to be over. She was glad she was making things right with Lily because she really missed her best friend, especially while all this Ted stuff was going on. But she didn't even know how much she could say to Lily. After all, Ted was living with them and Lily had proved her loyalty to Ted numerous times since he resurfaced.

She sighed, she would have to test the waters while they were there. Barney squeezed her knee and she smiled at him placing her hand over his. Thank God she had Barney. He was facing all of his insecurities where Ted was concerned just because she asked him to. He didn't even need to be convinced. Robin wasn't one to wax poetic about love and finding the one, but she got pretty damn lucky when she met Barney.

* * *

Ted stood off to the side when Barney and Robin arrived, observing the dynamic between the group without him in it. As soon as the door opened, Marvin and Jamie flew at the couple yelling choruses of "Aunt Robin and Uncle Barney are here!" Marvin went after Barney, grabbing his hand and pulling Barney down to his level. Jamie, on the other hand, had latched onto Robin's leg, and she was gently brushing the child's hair back as he recounted the events of the day. Marshall quickly followed the kids briefly greeting Barney and Robin before turning his attention to Aubrey, who was resting on the ground. He unbuckled her from the seat and picked her up, situating her in his arms. Lily eventually made it into the room shaking her head fondly at everyone else.

"Jamie and Marv, do you want to go get the pictures you made for your aunt and uncle yesterday?" They both nodded excitedly and tore off toward their bedrooms. Lily smiled at Barney and Robin, hugging both of them and then turning toward Aubrey.

"Hi, little one." She smiled stroking the top of the baby's head.

Ted couldn't believe how much of a unit they seemed to be. It was clear how much the kids adored Barney and Robin and vice versa. He felt a twinge of regret thinking about how Aidan could have been a part of that. He hoped maybe he still could, but Ted had a feeling that maybe no matter how much time passed, there'd always be a slight disconnect between Ted and everyone else. Finally, he cleared his throat and entered the room, interrupting the reunion.

"Hey guys," He said with a wave before stuffing his hands back into his pockets. Barney and Robin both gave him small smiles and he thought maybe this day wouldn't be as awkward as he predicted it would. If nothing else he figured it would probably give him time to talk to Barney, since he assumed Lily and Robin would disappear at some point.

The group made their way into the living room, all taking what Ted assumed was their usual seats, leaving Ted to take the leftover one. He watched with interest as Lily and Marshall doted over baby Aubrey and Robin and Barney played with Marvin and Jamie. He always thought he'd be the fun uncle who played with the kids, while Barney and Robin would be the cool aunt and uncle who weren't around as much.

He definitely thought he'd be the kids' favorite uncle, but he wasn't even an uncle. They just knew him as Ted, the guy that used to be friends with their parents and was living with them temporarily. He tried to play with the kids a few times, but they didn't seem to need him. They were perfectly entertained by each other, so he gave up. But watching them with Barney and Robin, well, all he was feeling was regret.

"Alright, it's game time!" Marshall cheered raising Aubrey's arms along with his. Robin and Lily rolled their eyes and quickly taking it as a sign to exit the room. Robin stopped in the doorway of the kitchen to look at Barney.

"You've got her?" She asked, her eyes flitting over to her daughter and Barney nodded.

"Don't worry about it, go have a girl time." He smiled at her and she nodded following Lily to the kitchen. While Marshall and Barney were engrossed in the game, Ted looked down at Aubrey, who seemed content to lay in Marshall's arms, which surprised him. He definitely would've pegged Barney and Robin to have a child that couldn't sit still. But looking at her, there was no doubt whose kid she was. She looked exactly like Robin with her shock of dark brown hair and delicate features, but the eyes were all Barney. They were bright blue and already had that mischievous glint that never left Barney's eyes. He had a feeling that she'd be a handful when she got older and Ted would expect nothing less from Barney and Robin's child.

It still felt like a small punch in he gut every time Ted looked at her though. All he could think about were the 'what-ifs'. What if Ted accidentally knocked Robin up? What if he would've moved to Argentina with her? What if he actually convinced Robin to marry him? He thought it could never happen, which was why he gave up, but it seemed like what he wanted wouldn't have taken too much convincing. If he could've just waited a couple of years for Robin to warm up to the idea of marriage…but no, he had to jump the gun and marry Stella. He sighed and turned back to the television that everyone else in the room had their attention on.

* * *

"Robin, I really am sorry-" Robin held her hand up for Lily to stop.

"Stop apologizing you already did that," she said smiling at Lily, who relaxed slightly.

"Can I say that I would take it back if I could and I really missed my best friend." Robin's smile widened and she opened her arms.

"Bring it in!" She announced pulling Lily into a hug. When they finally pulled away, Lily went over to the fridge to grab them both beers as they sat down at the table.

"So, how's everything going?" Lily asked handing Robin her beer.

"I think Barney's more upset about Ted being back than he'll tell me." She admitted.

"Has he said anything?"

"Not much, but he got really upset when he found out Ted was getting divorced and moving in here." Robin sighed and Lily smiled apologetically.

"Sorry," she said quietly and Robin shook her head.

"I'll admit, I was a little mad at first when I found out Ted was moving in with you guys, but don't worry about it, okay? I'm over and Barney's over it. Everything now is more directed at Ted." Robin took a deep breath trying to decide whether to tell Lily what exactly was going on.

"Robin, you can tell me. Ted may be living here, but you're still my best friend. Everything stays confidential." Robin raised an eyebrow and Lily quickly spoke up again. "Okay, I'll tell Marshall, but Marshall won't tell Ted."

"Barney's worried." Robin finally said.

"Worried?" Lily asked, her face full of confusion.

"With Ted being single and me being close by…" She trailed off and Lily nodded in understanding.

"Barney thinks Ted's going to go after you." Lily surmised.

"Yeah," she sighed. "And I told him it's ridiculous. I mean, Ted's in the middle of a divorce. Besides I'm married. He has to understand that that means I'm not available in anyway."

"Well…" Lily said weakly and Robin's eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"It might be nothing…"

"What happened?" Robin asked sitting up straight.

"He was probably just curious."

"Lily!" She snapped.

"Ted was asking me about you and Barney." She admitted. Robin said nothing and waited for Lily to continue. "I stopped him before he could really get any information and I warned him that if he did anything to mess with you guys, he'd be a dead man." Robin gave a Lily a thankful smile and let her head fall into her hands.

"Do you think he would actually do anything?"

"No," she replied quickly shaking her head. "Ted's just as harmless as he's always been."

"That's what I told Barney, but…" Robin shrugged helplessly. "He still seemed concerned." Lily smiled sympathetically and patted Robin's hand. "Anyway, how are things with you guys?"

"Oh, I didn't tell you yet." Lily said with a sigh. "We got called in to see Jamie's teacher. Apparently, he's been hugging everyone in class. And some of the kids don't like it." Both of the women started laughing lightening the mood in the room.

* * *

During halftime, Marshall and the kids had disappeared to go check on something in the basement. Robin and Lily were still talking in the kitchen and Aubrey was quietly sucking on her bottle. It left Ted and Barney alone together and there was an awkward silence surrounding them.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you when you told me about everything." Ted apologized and Barney nodded in acknowledgment. "You seem like a really good dad." Barney smiled down at his daughter.

"Thanks," he said eyeing Ted suspiciously. He couldn't tell whether Ted was being genuinely nice or if he wanted something out of the conversation.

"I'm, uh, glad you and Robin are happy." Barney was still eyeing Ted cautiously and Ted shifted in his seat uneasily. "You guys are happy, right?"

"Yeah, yeah, we are." Barney nodded hoping that was enough to scare Ted off from whatever quest he was on.

"Good." He nodded in approval. "How did that happen? If you don't mind me asking, just curious." Ted assured him, but Barney wasn't sure. Although Ted had this pleading look in his eyes and Barney knew he'd give in. But instead of giving Ted the short version, he would give him the longer version, the one that would hopefully deter him.

"Well, I guess I kind of have you to thank for it."

"Me?" Ted asked in surprise and Barney nodded.

"Yup!" He smiled. "After the bus accident…well, it made me realize I was in love with Robin." Barney began to explain. He hoped the more details he gave, the more Ted would think before acting. "Anyway, I spent the next couple of months after that completely in love with her. We got really close, I don't know how much you noticed, you were pretty preoccupied with Stella at that point." He gave Ted a sympathetic smile because he did feel bad for Ted, but that didn't mean he approved of Ted going anywhere near Robin.

"The night before she moved to Japan, we stayed at the bar after you guys left and drank more than we should have. She ended up spending the night at my place. We obviously didn't talk the next day because she was moving but, uh, when she quit her job and moved back here, well, the nights didn't stop. They happened a lot, actually. Then one night we were both at Giddy-Ups and upset and I told her how I felt about her finally." Barney couldn't help but smile thinking about that night. "And she reciprocated the feelings, so yeah, that's how we got together."

"I thought you said you didn't pursue Robin any further until after I was married." Ted said quickly jumping down Barney's throat. "I wasn't married when Robin moved to Japan."

"But you were engaged, completely off the market. Besides, it was only that one night." He shrugged. Ted couldn't actually get angry over that minor detail.

"Robin was still my ex!"

"Dude, you were practically down the aisle and neither of us were completely sober." He defended shaking his head at Ted. He was not going to defend this anymore. They had done nothing wrong, just because Ted had a problem meant nothing to him.

"Why didn't you tell me about it?"

"Because I figured you had enough to worry about with the wedding and Robin and I agreed not to say anything." Ted rubbed his eyes and let out a long sigh.

"I should have listened to Robin when she called me." Barney narrowed his eyes at Ted.

"She called me the night before I married Stella and told me I shouldn't do it."

"I'm sorry, what?" Ted ignored him and continued on.

"She said that maybe we weren't done yet and there was no way we could find out unless I married Stella. I figured she was bluffing and she wouldn't be able to give me what Stella could. Maybe I was wrong…" Ted trailed off and Barney clenched his right hand until his knuckle turned white trying his hardest not to punch him in the face. He figured Ted just wanted to get a rise out of him and if Barney reacted in any way then Ted would get exactly what he wanted. Well, Barney wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Barney opened his mouth to make an off-hand comment but immediately stopped when everyone else entered the room.

He knew Robin could tell as soon as she walked in the room that something was wrong. She gave him a questioning look and he shook his head. Maybe they could talk about it later but now definitely wasn't the time. He needed to calm down first so he could talk about this rationally. Robin sat down next to him and interlocked their fingers giving him a soft smile.

God, he really hated Ted right now.


	11. Chapter Eleven

_Well, this took way longer than I planned. I am so, so sorry. I wish I had a decent excuse, but I don't. I got sucked into (and spiraled badly) into the complete craziness of Community. I've watched the entire series 3 times in 2 weeks, so yeah. I feel bad that I don't have a better excuse for you guys haha. But I finally updated, hooray! Anyway, once again, all of your reviews mean the world to me. I'm so glad you guys like the story and I honestly can't thank you enough for all of your encouragement! Okay, I'm sure you don't want to hear anything else from me. On with the story!_

* * *

Barney was unhappy with her. Robin knew it. He had been distant the last couple days and to make it even worse, GNB had sent him on a business trip. So now he was mad at her from the other side of the world. And it sucked for a lot of reasons. Number one being she had no idea what even happened. She knew without a doubt that it had something to do with whatever happened between Ted and Barney at Marshall and Lily's. Unfortunately, Barney refused to tell her what was bothering him. He said it was something he needed to work through on his own, which she respected. But if he was going to be dismissive toward her, she thought she at least deserved to know why.

Barney was never one to be pushed into something though. So, no matter how many times she confronted him about it, he wouldn't tell her anything. She thought about calling Ted. Actually seriously considered it because what else was she supposed to do at this point? Her husband was on a business trip in some foreign country, barely speaking to her.

Of course he called every night, even if he was mad (was he mad?) at her, he still wanted to talk to her and anything she could get out of him was a victory in her book. But it still sucked. She couldn't even remember the last time Barney was legitimately mad at her. Then she realized that calling Ted and bringing him into this would probably make everything worse. She sighed and pressed her palms into her eyes. She couldn't fix this until Barney was home, so she might as well stop worrying about it.

* * *

Barney was being an asshole. He knew that. He felt bad about it, mostly because he left for a business trip in the middle of it. Yeah, he was calling her so at least he wasn't ignoring her entirely, but the last two nights after he hung up the phone and rolled over in his hotel bed…well, he felt like an ass.

Robin was trying to please him and make things right and she didn't even know what she did wrong. He had to open up and talk to her, but he was halfway around the world and it wasn't the ideal time to have a heart to heart.

Plus, he was half-hoping he would stop caring about what Robin said to Ted seven years ago. It shouldn't bother him as much as it did. He and Robin hadn't been anything when she said those things to Ted. Rationally he knew that. He knew he had no right to be mad at Robin and he wasn't really mad at her.

But now, he felt like the whole beginning of their relationship was tainted. Had he just started as a rebound? And part of him was aware it didn't matter now. Robin wouldn't have married him if he had been a rebound. He knew that. But it still stung a little that he might have started out as a rebound.

He had to talk to Robin about it, that was the only solution. But when Ted had first informed him of the call Robin placed to Ted the night before his wedding, Barney was angry. Angry at Ted, angry at Robin, and angry at himself. And he didn't want to actually fight with Robin, which was why he hadn't brought it up right away. Then, by the time he was ready to bring it up, he was being sent to North Korea and no matter how beautiful Pyongyang was this time of year, there was only one place he wanted to be. He just had to get through the rest of the trip and then he could go home and get him and Robin out of this weird limbo that was all his fault.

* * *

Robin smiled softly as she laid her sleeping daughter down in her crib. She almost dreaded leaving the nursery because she knew she'd have to call Barney. That was the routine. She'd put Aubrey to bed, then call him. But the phone conversations were strained and she hated it. She'd rather ignore the problem until Barney came back and they could actually fix it, than have to deal with whatever was happening between them. She sighed squeezing her eyes shut and exiting the nursery, quietly shutting the door behind her.

The phone was heavy in her hands and she felt tears prick her eyes. Robin was never one to cry (except during her pregnancy, but that was irrelevant), but she was truly at a loss of what to do about her and Barney.

Not that she was contemplating divorce or anything drastic, but, God, she missed him. There were things that happened during the day that she immediately wanted to tell him about and then she would remember that he needed space. She knew that once he came home they could talk it out, but she didn't know what to do in the mean time and it was killing her.

Part of her wanted to call him now and talk all of it out, demand answers, and apologize for whatever past discretions; but she also knew that was dangerous. Talking on the phone left too much room for miscommunication, plus it wasn't totally out of the realm of possibility that they might hang up on each other if things got too heated. But, at this point, she thought it was a risk she was willing to take. She nodded her head and gathered up the nerve to do this. Screw Barney if he hadn't had enough time, she deserved to know what the hell was going on. She quickly pulled up his name and was about to click the call button when there was a knock on the door.

She groaned and tossed the phone onto the coffee table cursing her luck. All she wanted to do was make things right with her husband, but apparently the universe was against that happening. She took a deep breath and hoped that it was just a girl scout or someone equally harmless. Robin was not in the mood to deal with anyone else right now. Of course all of her hopes were crushed when she opened the door to find Ted on the other side.

* * *

Ted knew Barney was out of town. That was how he decided to go over to Robin's. He wasn't particularly proud of the fact that he was going to try and win Robin back. She was married, after all. But he had just been in a marriage that meant absolutely nothing, apparently, so what were the chances that Robin's was the same? Besides, Barney didn't deserve Robin, he never did and he still doesn't.

Ted didn't believe that Barney had changed. People didn't change that drastically. No one went from sleeping with anything with legs to being married and having a family. It didn't happen. He would bet money on the fact that Barney's little business trip included some extracurricular activities.

He wanted to approach Marshall, or Lily, with his thoughts but he knew he'd get shut down pretty fast. They seemed to buy into Barney's act. There was a tiny part of Ted that thought it might be sincere. But he quickly squelched those thoughts. He couldn't do what he was about to do if he doubted for a second that Barney truly had feelings for Robin.

No. There was no way. They had ended up together through a fluke. Ted was sure. He nodded making a final decision. He couldn't move on with his life unless he knew without a doubt that he and Robin were completely over.

Yeah, okay, maybe it was crazy for him to even think he had a chance with a married woman. But he firmly believed (and still held firm to it) that Robin was his one. He hadn't felt the same way about anyone and he knew there had to be a reason behind it. Plus, Robin had called him the night before his wedding and asked him not to do it. He knew he should've listened to her, but now was his opportunity to make up for that.

So, he set out to Robin's house with the intent to get her back.

* * *

"Ted," Robin greeted, not unkindly, but she was tired and cranky and really really not in the mood to deal with Ted.

"Hey," he said giving her a small smile. "Can I come in?"

"Uh, sure." She said stepping aside. "Barney's out of town." She informed him. She bit the inside of her cheek and resisted the urge to immediately corner Ted about what happened at Marshall and Lily's house.

"I know. That's kind of why I decided to come over." Robin narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. What exactly was Ted's motive here?

"What are you doing?"

"I wanted to talk to you." He shrugged stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"And you couldn't do that when Barney was home?" She raised an eyebrow. Robin had a sinking feeling that Ted was here for some very wrong reasons and she didn't trust him. The biggest problem was she needed to tell Barney about this and he wasn't going to take it well. He was already mad about something else that she assumed was Ted related, he wouldn't take well to Ted coming over specifically because Barney was out of town.

"No, it's about us."

"Us?" Robin asked and she could hear the edge in her voice. "There is no us, Ted. In fact there hasn't been an 'us'," she remarked making air quotes, "in years."

"I know that, okay? Could you-could you just hear me out?" He begged letting his arm fall limply at his side. Robin bit her lip, but finally nodded in acquiescence. But it was really hard for her to ignore the sinking feeling that this was going to end very badly.

"Ever since my marriage to Stella ended I've been rethinking a lot of things. It's not like I completely regret my marriage because it gave me my kids, but-" He paused and looked up at her, but she didn't let any emotions cross her face. She wanted Ted to finish whatever he was planning on saying before she tore into him. "But my mind keeps thinking back to when you called me the night before the wedding." Robin felt her stomach turn over uneasily. She really didn't like where this was going.

"I should have listened to you that night. You were so right. It was way too soon for Stella and I to take that step and I don't even know what I was thinking. And," he sighed letting his head fall into his hands. As much as Robin knew she was going to hate whatever was about to come out of Ted's mouth, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of sympathy for him. "And I was wondering…is it definitely too late for us?"

And there it was, the reason he came over here. Robin had figured that was it, but she hoped against everything that there was some other burning reason. Of course, she'd been wrong.

"Ted, I'm married." She replied slowly wondering if maybe he hadn't heard that the first ten times she told him.

"And are you honestly happy, Robin? You never wonder about us at all?"

"No, Ted, I don't!" She hissed trying to keep her voice down. "When you married Stella, that was the end of it for me."

"You never answered my question." Ted remarked. "Are you happy?" Robin sighed.

"Some days are harder than others, especially today." She muttered under her breath. "But overall? I am happy, yes." She couldn't help but feel like they'd already had this conversation, but apparently it had to happen again.

"And you're in love with Barney?" She was so tired of being interrogated by Ted.

"Why are you here, Ted? Why are you questioning my relationship with Barney? None of this is your business." Robin snapped.

"Because I care about you and I still love you! And I've always thought we'd end up together…it startled me that you ended up with Barney. I guess, I'm just worried about you."

"Why?"

"People don't change as drastically as Barney has, Robin. How do you know he's not cheating on you or something?"

"Alright, that's it!" She declared standing up and walking toward the door. "Out!" She commanded swinging the door open.

"Robin!" Ted instantly protested shaking his head.

"Get out of my house, Ted, or else I will not be held responsible for what I do to you." She fumed and he sighed in response slowly exiting the house. "Think long and think hard before you come anywhere near me or Barney again." She spoke before slamming the door in his face. Almost as if on cue, her phone started ringing. Well, no better time than the present to tell Barney about this.

"Hi," she said quietly.

"Hey," came his tired reply from the other end. Her heart constricted at the tone in Barney's voice. She could tell he was exhausted and she almost didn't want to burden him with this. But he was already upset about something else involving her and Ted so keeping this a secret would probably make it worse.

"Barn, I have to tell you something."

"Okay…" He replied warily.

"Ted came over here tonight."

"What? Why?!" She heard the agitation she felt mirrored in his voice. Well, at least they were in the same place where Ted was concerned.

"To see if it was too late for us." Barney barked out a sarcastic laugh.

"Of course that's what he wanted to know."

"I told him it was way past too late for us and kind of kicked him out." She admitted and he laughed genuinely before they settled back into silence. She had a slight hope that maybe everything between them was fixed, but then Barney spoke again and the hardness in his tone was back.

"It's been a really long day and I don't want to talk about this right now. But we do have a lot to talk about."

"Why are you mad at me?" She asked softly. She couldn't hold it in anymore, she had to know.

"I-" He sighed loudly. "We'll talk about it when I get home, okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she mumbled in agreement.

"Good night."

"Night," she muttered hitting the end button on her phone. God, why had Ted even come back into their lives? All he was doing was screwing everything up.


	12. Chapter Twelve

_Sorry, I know I'm the worst and this chapter took forever again. But I just got back to school a couple weeks ago and this semester is really kicking my ass and I've allowed myself to get distracted by other stories...oops sorry! Plus, I had really bad writer's block trying to write this chapter. I couldn't decide between a huge confrontation or kind of a diffusion. I sort of went somewhere in the middle. I don't know. I'm also really sick, this winter is awful. But I think this chapter is coherent enough that you can't tell I'm on a million doses of DayQuil...ahhh. Okay, sorry, I_'_m done talking. Once again, thank you guys so much for the reviews. You all are the greatest people ever and I literally can't thank everyone who has read, favorited, reviewed, or followed the story enough. _

* * *

Barney was finally home and he had slightly mixed feelings about it, which made him feel awful. Yes, he had missed Robin and Aubrey, but truthfully he still wasn't ready to deal with the whole Robin/Ted situation. He had a lot of questions he needed to ask her today and chances were one, or both, of them would end up getting hurt and that was the last thing he wanted. But they couldn't avoid this conversation any longer. This business trip had put it off for an extra couple days, which he was glad for because he felt he could be more rational about the whole situation now.

He glanced at his watch, 9:35, Aubrey would definitely be asleep by now, which meant it was just him and Robin. He sighed wearily pulling the door open. It was time to get this over with. Robin startled as soon as the door was pulled open jumping to her feet. They looked at each other hesitantly not knowing how to react. Finally, Robin set the precedent when she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him.

"I know you're mad at me," she mumbled into his shoulder. "But I really missed you." He felt his heart break a little at the words. He knew what he was doing had been hurting Robin, but earlier he was so blinded by how angry he was, that he didn't really think about how she would feel. He reached up and stroked the back of her head softly, not quite ready to give up on the hug just yet. When she finally pulled away, he managed a small smile.

"Guess we need to talk now, huh?" She nodded reluctantly and returned to her previous spot on the couch. "Before I say anything else, I'm really sorry I avoided talking about this for so long. At first, I was too angry to bring it up and was worried I'd end up saying something I regretted and then I kept putting it off, which wasn't fair to you. So, I'm sorry about that."

"Thanks," she murmured giving him a sad half-smile.

"I probably should go first." He commented wryly mostly to himself. Truthfully, seeing Robin had caused most of his anger to fade. Of course he was still confused about what happened and if the catalyst of their relationship had been Ted's marriage, which he would really, really hate. But he regretted keeping this from her for so long. "Ted told me something when we were at Marshall and Lily's…"

"Ugh, of course it was Ted." Robin groaned and he raised a questioning eyebrow. "I'm so sick of Ted trying to get in the middle of our relationship. He tells you something to deliberately make you mad at me and then comes over here when you're gone to tell me he loves me. I don't have time to deal with all these problems he's causing. We have a baby and I haven't gotten enough sleep in months and I just-" She broke off and Barney was a little concerned she was verging on hysteria. He gently rubbed her knee and waited for her to calm down.

Barney honestly couldn't believe Ted at this point. Ted had been Barney's bro, his best friend, and now Ted was trying to destroy his marriage. Yeah, Barney understood that Ted never got over Robin, but he needed to be a grown-up and face up to the fact that he'd made a mistake and deal with those consequences. He also needed to realize that Robin's wasn't Ted's to 'take back'.

"Hey, I'm not mad anymore, okay?" He asked softly trying to calm her down. "I just need you to explain some things to me." Robin took a deep breath, steeled herself, and nodded. "Was I only rebound?"

"What?" She asked eyebrows creased in confusion.

"When we got together…" He trailed off licking his lips trying to figure out how to word it. "…were you using me to get over Ted?"

"No!" She immediately objected standing up. "No, of course you weren't. I was over Ted before us." Barney braced himself for the question he knew he had to ask next.

"Why did you call Ted the night before he married Stella?" Robin looked up at him in surprise, her eyes wide.

"That's what you were upset about?" She asked knowingly and he nodded. "I can't believe Ted told you about that." She muttered angrily under her breath.

"Why? Because it's true?!" He questioned feeling his agitation with Ted being redirected at Robin.

"No!" She yelled immediately, the loudness of her voice startling both of them. "I mean, yes, I called him, but I didn't mean what I said." Barney raised an eyebrow.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Ted was the first person to love me, even my parents-" Robin broke off shaking her head. "I realized that if he married Stella, I would lose that and it scared me. I wasn't still in love with him and I wasn't about to get back together with him either. I was just scared…" She shrugged and Barney knew she was telling the truth, but it still didn't sit right with him. "I don't really have any excuses and I'm sorry I didn't tell you about it, but I didn't think it mattered."

"It doesn't, I guess." He finally decided to let it go. Robin clearly had given him all her insight into this particular situation. It was just something he had to deal with. "I kind of thought you already had feelings for me at that point, though." He admitted quietly and he saw realization dawn on her face. Now she understood what he'd really been upset about.

"I did."

"Then why-" She quickly cut him off.

"Don't be upset when I tell you this, okay?" He hesitated, but nodded. Whatever it was, he needed to know whether it would upset him or not. "I didn't know if you felt anything for me. And even if you did…I wasn't sure you'd ever really change." She shrugged helplessly. "Obviously you proved me wrong, big time, but I had this sense of security over my relationship with Ted that I was losing to Stella and I wanted it with you, but I didn't think you could give it to me. So, I panicked and I called Ted. I regretted it in the morning and I almost called to apologize, but I thought that might do more harm than good." Barney felt the tension he'd had for the past couple days slip away as he heard more of Robin's explanation. "Are you upset?" Robin asked and he realized he still hadn't said anything.

"No," he shook his head and she looked surprised. "Robin, even I doubted if I could change. It wasn't that I didn't want to, but I had been that version of Barney for so long…"

"For the record, I like this version of Barney the best."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." He smiled widely and she smiled back, just as wide.

"I'm sorry I got so angry."

"I get it."

"You do?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I mean, if I had just found out that while we were in the midst of trying to figure out whether we should do this thing for real, you called Shannon and asked for a second chance and told her not to get married. I wouldn't be happy." She told him with a shrug. "But you have to know that that call to Ted didn't mean anything. I didn't want him then and I don't want him now." She stated resolutely.

"I wish he would stop."

"Well, last night I kicked him out and told him to think long and hard before he came back." She said, voice full of pride and he laughed.

"Good call, Scherbatsky." He nodded grabbing hold of her hand. "What'd he say last night, anyway?" He'd still been too stressed about this situation to really ask Robin what exactly had been said. Robin tensed beside him, which caused him to sit up. "Robin?" He prompted.

"Okay, but remember that these are Ted's thought and I do not in any way agree with anything he said. In fact, I kicked him out because of it."

"Noted," he mumbled, eyes narrowed. He really didn't like where this was going.

"Firstly, he doubted that I was happy, which I assured him I was. But he said there was no way you had changed…" Robin revealed bracing herself for his reaction.

"What?" He asked in a controlled tone praying for Ted's sake that that didn't mean what he thought it meant.

"He implied that I had no way of knowing what you were really doing on your business trip."

"He thought I was cheating on you." Barney finished and she nodded. "He's unbelievable." He stood up quickly throwing on his jacket.

"Barn," Robin said softly trying to get his attention, when he ignored her, she spoke louder. "Barney, don't do this."

"No, I have to. Ted doesn't seem to be getting the message, so I'm going to give it to him loud and clear."

"Barney," she pleaded putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry, I'll be good." She looked at him skeptically. "I promise." He murmured leaning in to kiss her. "I'll be back in an hour or so."

"Don't do anything stupid, please." He nodded in acknowledgment and headed out the door.

* * *

Ted wasn't proud of himself. Although, he didn't regret what he did, he wasn't happy about the lengths he went to to try and get what he wanted. But he had been pretty sure Barney and Robin weren't completely happy with each other and how their lives turned out. All he had to do was plant considerable seeds of doubt in both their heads, which he had done. Now, he just had to wait and see. If they survived, then he had obviously been wrong, but if they didn't- well, he could swoop in.

He nodded to himself. Maybe it wasn't the best way to go about this and if anyone ever put the pieces together, he'd be a dead man. But he hadn't know what else to do and he had to do something. He was so absorbed in his thoughts he almost missed the commotion at the door.

"Oh, Marshall and Lily, wonderful to see you two this fine evening." He heard a voice he knew was Barney's say. "Now, can you tell me where to find my best buddy, Ted?" And Ted could already hear the anger in Barney's voice. There was no mistaking that. Ted almost wanted to run away, but he knew he had to face whatever was coming his way. Ted knew it might happen when he instigated this whole thing. And who knows just because Barney was mad didn't really mean anything.

"Oh hey Ted!" Barney greeted with a sarcastic smile on his face. "Care to inform me on what right you had to come into my home while I was away and accuse me of cheating on my wife?" He questioned, the smile never leaving his face, as Marshall and Lily gasped in the background. It unnerved Ted. He had seen Barney mad, but this was different. He was thankful for a moment that Marshall and Lily were there, if only to prevent Barney from killing him. It took him another moment to realize Barney had actually asked him a question and Ted struggled to find the right answer.

"C'mon Barney, you can't be that surprised I would think that. The Barney I knew thrived on one night stands." Ted replied in a friendly tone.

"Exactly! The Barney you knew! Apparently, you can't wrap your head around the concept that people actually change, Ted."

"But you changed so drastically!" He defended.

"Yeah, falling in love, getting married, and having a child will do that to you." Barney snarked back. "I don't appreciate you getting in the middle of my relationship with Robin. We're fine. We love each other and we're happy. But we also just had a baby and neither of us are in any condition to deal with your shenanigans, Ted. We are tired and the last thing either of us wants to do after a long day is fight about you, because, frankly, you're not worth it. So, I kindly ask you to stay out of our lives. And if you come near us again, your reception will be less than pleasant." He said flashing one last smile in Ted's direction, before walking out of the house. Ted's eyes went from the door where Barney had just exited to a fuming Marshall and Lily.

Well, shit.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

_Hi, I'm back! It hasn't been too long this time...right? Ugh, sorry I really am trying to keep up with this story. It has been brought to my attention by an anonymous reviewer that it's off-putting that I'm writing more stories when this one's unfinished and I'm sorry about that. But I have a really hard time writing anything else when I have a story forming in my head and I need to get it out before I can do anything else. So, if you don't want to read my stuff for that reason, then be my guest, but I really try and update as much as I can. And I haven't done that many things in between...I'm sorry! Blame Community! I can't help it. Anyway, sorry I felt like I should address that. I think there may be one more chapter after this. Possibly one more and then an epilogue is what I'm thinking? So, I guess two! Yay, we're wrapping things up! Once again thank you guys for all the reviews. Almost all the feedback I receive for this story is positive and I literally can't thank you guys enough for being so supportive. You're the greatest!_

* * *

"You son of a bitch!" Lily fumed, her eyes narrowed in anger. Marshall placed a calming hand on her back and sighed tiredly.

"What were you thinking, Ted?" Marshall had wanted his best friend back, yes. But not like this. He didn't want the guy who would meddle in other people's lives and try to destroy marriages. This guy wasn't Ted. This was some angry, jaded version of Ted and Marshall hated it.

"I guess I wasn't." Ted finally admitted quietly sitting down on the couch. Lily still had her arms folded and stared Ted down in anger.

"We'll be right back." Marshall informed Ted before leading Lily into the kitchen. "Deep breaths, baby, deep breaths." He instructed and she took a couple before looking up at him.

"What are we going to do, Marshmallow?"

"I think you know what we have to do." He said gently.

"We have to kick him out. He needs to know it's not okay to mess with other people's lives like that." Marshall nodded in agreement.

"I hate to make him leave with no place to stay, but what he did-" He shook his head in exasperation.

"You'd think after his marriage fell apart, he'd have enough sense not to try and ruin someone else's." He smiled sadly at his wife.

"I think that's why he did it. He figured Barney and Robin were as shaky as he and Stella were and all it would take was a few misunderstandings to blow the house down." Marshall had no idea why Ted thought that. All a person had to do was spend a couple minutes in a room with Barney and Robin to see how perfect they were for each other. Then again, Ted did always have a habit of only seeing what he wanted to see and not for what they really were.

"Why don't you talk to him? I think I'm still too angry to do it and you can handle it better."

"Are you sure?" Lily quickly nodded.

"I don't think snapping at him is going to show him the error of his ways." She muttered. "I'm going to go call Robin and make sure she's okay, then I promised Jamie and Marvin I'd help them build a blanket fort." Marshall smiled fondly at the idea of his son's and their blanket fort.

"Okay," he agreed leaning forward to press a light kiss on Lily's forehead.

"Good luck, baby. And don't let him off too easy." He huffed out a laugh.

"Of course not." He slowly walked back to the living room where Ted was sitting, head in his hands.

"So," Marshall started conversationally taking a seat next to Ted on the couch.

"I'll be packed and out of your way in an hour or so." Ted replied chancing a look at Marshall.

"O-okay." Wow. He figured he'd have to at least break the news to Ted. Normally, he couldn't even realize what he did wrong. At least he seemed to be taking some sort of responsibility for it.

"That's where this was going, right? You were going to tell me I had to leave."

"Ted-" He started hesitantly.

"It's fine." Ted said quickly, but Marshall knew it wasn't. He probably thought that their past friendship meant he had Marshall's loyalty. And it did. Marshall would always have Ted's back. But he couldn't this time. His other friendships didn't allow it.

"Look, we know you're going through a tough time…"

"But Barney and Robin are your best friends and they'll get mad at you if you let me stay. I get it." Marshall coughed to cover the sharp burst of laughter that threatened to escape.

"Uh, I'm not very happy with you either Ted and you might want to steer clear of Lily for awhile."

"Oh," he murmured sullenly. "I guess I get it. They're your best friends now."

"Ted, you can't be angry with me for that. You left. Barney and Robin are a permanent fixture in not only our lives, but our children's too. The fact that you tried to get in between the two of them is not okay with any of us." He shook his head in dismay. "I understand that you thought for whatever reason things were unfinished with you and Robin, but she made it pretty clear she moved on."

"I know, but it was with Barney." Marshall let out an annoyed sigh.

"That's not an excuse. You can't use that as a crutch to make what you did okay. Barney's changed a lot over the years, the fact that he's married should've been enough proof of that. But this is all irrelevant. It doesn't matter why what you did was wrong. You should know why."

"I'm sorry." Ted muttered meekly.

"You don't owe me an apology." Marshall quickly shook his head. "And I think you know that." He sighed trying to figure out what to say next. He didn't want to ban Ted from their lives forever, but he needed to make it more than clear that he wouldn't be accepted back with open arms. "The bottom line is that you have to apologize to Barney and Robin, but don't do it unless you mean it. And don't do it until you figure things out with yourself first. We all wanted you back in our lives, Ted, but we can't do that if you're sabotaging marriages." He glanced over at Ted, who was looking pretty pathetic. Good, Marshall thought, let him feel guilty for what he did.

"That's not what I wanted to do. I just thought-"

"Thought that you made a mistake marrying Stella?" He nodded hesitantly. "Even if your marriage had its ups and downs it wasn't a mistake. You still have your kids."

"You're right." Ted said after a long pause. He stood up stuffing his hands in his pockets. "I'm going to go stay at a hotel for a week or two while I find a job and an apartment. I'll be gone soon. Thanks for letting me stay here, though. And thank Lily for me too?" Ted ventured hopefully and he nodded in affirmation. "I really will think about what you said and try and sort myself out."

"I really think you need to. Your marriage really messed with your head." Ted blew out a breath and his shoulders sagged.

"Yeah," he murmured quietly before trudging toward the steps.

"It'll all work out, Ted." Marshall called out, injecting a little bit of hope in his tone. Although Marshall was really unsure, even if Ted did wise up and apologize to Barney and Robin there was a huge chance that they wouldn't forgive him or accept him back into their lives. And he honestly wouldn't blame them. What Ted did was really shitty and completely uncalled for. He breathed deep loosening his shoulders from the tension of the conversation. He smiled when he could hear the laughter of his children and wife coming from the playroom upstairs. He glanced over to the guest bedroom, but then shook his head and moved toward the happy sounds of his family.

* * *

Robin smiled flipping Aubrey's dress over her face and then pulling it down. "Peek-a-boo!" She grinned as her daughter giggled happily. She did it again this time tickling her in the process as her giggles got louder. Sometimes it surprised her how maternal she could be. She still had a hard time accepting the fact that sitting on the floor playing with her daughter was her favorite way to spend the afternoon. Well, it was partly that and trying to keep her mind off of what was happening at Marshall and Lily's.

Barney left a little over an hour and a half ago. Lily had called to relay the fight and make sure things were okay in the Stinson household. But that had been 45 minutes ago, which meant Barney should've been home 20 minutes ago. She couldn't deny the fact that she was a little worried. He had a tendency to do stupid things when he was mad and as hot as she thought bruises were, well, she hoped he didn't hurt himself. She shook her head trying her best not to worry about Barney and turning her attention back to her daughter.

Aubrey grabbed onto her hands and Robin helped pull her up into a sitting position, placing a hand at her back to keep her stable. As soon as she heard the door open, Aubrey made a loud gurgling noise and Robin scooped her up walking quickly toward the door. When Barney stepped inside, she wrapped her free arm around him and cradled Aubrey in between them.

"Hey, how are my favorite girls?" He asked with a smile placing a kiss on Aubrey's head before turning toward Robin. "You okay?" He raised an eyebrow in question and she nodded.

"I was worried." She admitted quietly.

"Aw, were you worried about me?" He teased, a wide smile breaking out across his face.

"Shuddup," she murmured resting her head on his shoulder. "I didn't want you to do anything stupid."

"I didn't." He promised hugging her tight before stepping away. He pulled Aubrey out of Robin's arms making a move to toss her in the air.

"Don't you dare," she said warningly and he looked over at her guiltily.

"Marshall used to do it all the time." He muttered moodily and Robin rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, once the boys were older. She's three months old, at least give it some time."

"Yes, mom." He stated with a hint of sarcasm.

"It doesn't work as well when I'm actually addressing you with a concern as a mother." Barney laughed lightly and moved over to the couch. He sat down and stood Aubrey up on his legs so they were facing each other. Robin didn't even try to control the huge grin that took over her face when Barney started making faces at Aubrey and she giggled. She plopped down on the couch next to them and let her head rest on his shoulder.

"So, Lily called and told me what happened." She informed him.

"Was it too much?"

"No, I think he deserved more than that. I probably wouldn't have been that easy on him." Barney laughed.

"I know, that's why I went over there." He smiled at her. "If I would've let you loose on Ted, he would've been lucky to get out of there alive. And I like having you around too much, you can't end up in jail." She rolled her eyes at his teasing.

"You'd miss me more than you want to admit."

"C'mon, it's more than that. Aubrey and I wouldn't last a day without you here. Isn't that right, Sparkles?" He murmured to their daughter, who made a gurgling sound in return. "See, she agrees with me too. Face it, Scherbatsky, you're stuck with me."

"I know that's why I married you, idiot." She laughed kissing him lightly on the cheek.

"Love you too."

* * *

As Ted unpacked a few things in his hotel room, he couldn't help but feel like the scum of the earth. He really wasn't sure what he'd been thinking when he started meddling in their relationship.

Well, actually he did. He'd been hoping he would expose Barney for a lying cheater of a husband and Robin would immediately run into Ted's arm and they'd live happily ever after. But thinking about it now, it seemed ridiculous.

He had messed with a marriage. Ted hated Tony so much for breaking up his marriage with Stella and he had tried to become the Tony in Barney and Robin's relationship and for what reason?

Sure, he may feel his business with Robin was a little unfinished but he had just gotten out of a seven year marriage. He was in no way ready to jump into any sort of relationship, no matter who it was with, which he was now realizing.

And even if it was ready for a relationship, he had no right to interfere in Barney and Robin's relationship. They had seemed happy and he'd done the thing he always did when he didn't want to deal with something, he ignored it. He ignored the voice in his head that told him the long distance relationship with Victoria was a bad idea. He ignored how unfit he and Robin were when they got together. He ignored all the obvious signs that Stella was pulling away from him. And he ignored how in love Barney and Robin were.

Now that he was going over each of his interactions with them, he felt like an idiot. How did he ever doubt Barney's level of commitment? He married her for godsake. That was huge.

He ran a hand through his hard and sighed as he collapsed on the bed. He would spend the next week or two getting his life in order. He would find a job and an apartment. He would finalize the divorce. He would give all of his friends time to cool off and then he would make his rounds. He owed Barney and Robin a big apology. He just needed to figured out how exactly to do it.

He couldn't screw up again. No, Ted was going to fix this. For once in his life Ted Mosby was going to admit his wrongdoings, of which there had been many.

God, he really was an idiot.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

_Uh, hi! Remember me? Yeah, I'm sorry this took so long. I don't even have enough words to apologize. I kind of lost motivation for this story and I didn't really know how to wrap it all up. I'm still not entirely happy with it but I felt bad for making you guys wait so long that I just decided to post it. I hope you all like it! And now that this story is finally finished. I just want to thank anyone who took the time to read, review, favorite, or follow this story. It means a lot that you guys actually liked it and every review that was left is what finally inspired to finish the final chapter. So yeah, thank you all so so so much! (Also I don't want to make any promises but I do want to have the next chapter of When We Were Young up sometime this week.) Okay, anyway, on with the final chapter!_

* * *

Barney leaned against the doorway to his daughter's room smiling widely as he watched Robin gently rock her to sleep. He would never get tired of watching this scene. He had a family. Sometimes he thought back on his old life, how happy he thought he was running plays every night and now thinking back it felt so empty. Bringing home a different bimbo and waking up alone the next morning. He thought it was perfect, no one could hurt him, but he never allowed himself to think about the benefits of opening up his life. And neither had Robin.

Ten years ago, they both would have assumed that in ten years they'd be in the exact same places. Single and successful. He chuckled lightly at how much had changed.

Robin glanced his way and eyed him suspiciously.

"What's so funny?" Barney shrugged walking further into the room. Robin raised an eyebrow in confusion as his smile widened. "Barn?"

"I just-" He shook his head smiling down at his sleeping daughter. "I never thought I'd be this happy." Robin followed his eye line down to Aubrey and nodded in agreement.

"Me either."

"Could you imagine telling yourself ten years ago that this is where you'd end up?" He remarked thoughtfully. "I didn't even have a real oven at that point in my life, much less any interest in a real relationship." Robin snorted quietly.

"Ten years ago…" She trailed off before letting out a long breath. "Ten years ago I was still with Ted." Barney's fists clenched involuntarily at the mention of Ted's name. He hadn't spoken to Ted since Marshall and Lily kicked him out weeks ago and Barney was grateful. He asked Ted to stay away and Ted had. All that being said though, he couldn't help but think back over the huge rift Ted tried to create between him and Robin. He never wanted to lose Robin and he certainly wouldn't let something stupid Ted did cause that, but Ted's behavior had caused Barney to think about how lucky he truly was.

"I'm about to get cheesy on you, Scherbatsky. Are you ready?" Robin smiled fondly up at her husband and nodded. "You and Aubrey are, without a doubt, the best things to happen to me. And no matter what happens, I don't want you to doubt that." Robin's eyebrows creased in concern.

"Should I be worried?"

"Absolutely not. But next time I do something stupid, I want you to remember this conversation." He smirked and Robin rolled her eyes.

"Duly noted." Barney leaned forward placing a quick kiss on top of Robin's head and running a finger down Aubrey's arm. Their moment was interrupted by the doorbell and he huffed in irritation. She smiled gently leaning up to pat him affectionately on the cheek. "Can you get that? I'll put her down and then I'll be right out." He nodded and walked toward the front door already thinking of the quickest way to get rid of whoever their unwelcome guest was. He sighed swinging the door open.

"Sorry, we're-" He managed to say before realizing who was at the door.

_Of course it was Ted. _

"Before you slam the door on me!" Ted yelled as Barney started to close the door. "I came to apologize."

"Let him in." Came Robin's tired reply from the hallway as she made it to the living room settling down on the couch. Barney waved his hand semi-invitingly ushering Ted into the house. Ted paced nervously in front of the couch and Barney sat down next to Robin, throwing an arm around the back of her chair.

"Can you please sit down?" Robin requested. "All your pacing is driving me insane." Ted flashed an apologetic smile and sat down in the chair across from them.

"Okay, you came to apologize. Apologize." Robin elbowed him in the side and he winced.

"Play nice." She hissed quietly to him and he grumbled out an agreement.

"I am sorry." Ted started and folded his hands together nervously. "I know that's kind of a blanket statement, but I'm sorry for everything. I'm not going to try and excuse my behavior in any way. I know what I did was wrong. You two are obviously very happy with each other and I deluded myself into thinking you weren't. I feel awful for interfering in your relationship. It wasn't at all my place. I was at a really rough place and I-" Ted broke off shaking his head. "I honestly don't even know what I was thinking. But I am truly truly sorry for causing you problems and I can promise it won't ever happen again. I'm really happy that you guys are happy." Ted licked his lips and stood up. "That was all I wanted to say. I'll get out of your way now."

Barney sat there in shock trying to absorb Ted's speech. This was clearly a more mature version of Ted than the last one Barney encountered.

"Ted, wait!" Robin called after him getting up off the couch. Ted stopped turning around to look at her curiously. "Look, this reunion may not have started out on the best ground but…" Robin took a deep breath and smiled at Ted. "We were your best friends at one point and we really missed having you around. Do you, uh, do you want a cup of coffee or anything?" Ted's eyes looked like a deer in the headlights as his gaze flickered toward Barney.

Barney had been surprisingly quiet during the whole exchange. He still felt slightly betrayed by everything that had happened regarding Ted, but, like Robin said, they used to be best friends. Barney did want that back. Despite feeling abandoned, Ted was still an important person in his life. He knew this might be his last chance at regaining their friendship. So, Barney nodded reassuringly at Ted hoping he would accept Robin's invitation.

"Yeah, coffee sounds good."

* * *

Ted breathed a huge sigh of relief as Robin led him to the kitchen. He knew he wasn't back on solid ground and he still had a lot to prove, but he was happy that they hadn't completely wrote him off.

"So, how's the divorce going?" Robin questioned as she grabbed mugs from the cabinet. Ted shrugged hopping up on one of the stools.

"It's been hard. But Stella's been good with letting me see the kids, so I'm grateful for that."

"What's little Mosby like? Is he building skyscrapers yet?" Ted laughed good-naturedly but shook his head.

"No, he's much more into the tearing down thing, than the building up." Robin nodded knowingly.

"Sounds like he'd fit in well with Marvin and Jamie." Ted felt lighter at the mention of Aidan actually getting to know the Erikson kids. He was so worried he had permanently ruined his place in the group.

"Thank you," he said softly and Robin looked over in surprise. She shrugged.

"I missed you, Teddy Westside." They both laughed at the mention of his old nickname. "If we can still fix this, then I want to."

"Me too." He agreed.

"By the way, my offer I made twelve years ago still stands. She's still out there, Ted. There may have been a lot of speed bumps along the way, but I still want you to find her. You deserve to be happy as much as the rest of us." Ted moved into the kitchen wrapping Robin up in a sudden hug. She patted him back uncertainly.

"Why don't you go back to the living room, I'll bring the coffee out in a minute." Robin said and he heard the unsaid words. _Go talk to Barney. _

* * *

Barney froze when he saw Ted come back into the room without Robin on his heels. Ted must have caught the look on his face, because he quickly explained.

"She'll be out with the coffee in a second." Barney nodded tapping on his knee impatiently. "I know I already apologized for coming in between you and Robin, but I think I have something else to apologize for."

"It's fine, Ted." He murmured.

"No, it's not. You were my best friend, Barney." He was momentarily surprised that wasn't followed up with an _except for Marshall. _But then Ted continued. "I didn't mean to abandon you guys like that. I got so caught up in my life with Stella and being a dad that I forgot to think about you guys. Which I regret so much now because I let myself drift and I missed so much. I never want that to happen again." Ted admitted and Barney nodded understandingly.

"I guess I understand why you did it. I mean, if I could stay in this house with Aubrey and Robin all day, I would." Barney stated truthfully. "I don't, but I definitely understand the appeal. It doesn't mean it makes it okay, but I get where you're coming from."

"Stella worked constantly and it was hard to take a baby and an 8-year-old on the subway to come see you guys. I wish I would have tried harder, but it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Now that Stella's not around to control everything, though, it'll make it easier."

"Please tell me you haven't sworn off dating completely! Because I haven't gotten to run a play in so long and Robin let me keep a back-up copy of The Playbook when we got married." Barney informed Ted finally allowing himself to relax around his old friend Ted. That's what it felt like now. This wasn't Ted who had tried to ruin his marriage (although it would be awhile before Barney could completely forgive that). But this was Ted, his hopeless romantic best friend. And while they might never be as close as they once were, he could feel some of the loose ends finally being tied up and it was good.

"I'm not ready to date yet, but I promise that you'll be the first to know when I do." Barney smiled widely holding his hand out for a high five, which Ted gladly returned. They were silent for a moment, before Ted spoke hesitantly.

"Do you think Marshall and Lily will forgive me?"

"Of course. We all wanted you back in our lives, Ted. You were just…you were kind of like a tornado sweeping through. We have families to protect now and we couldn't get swept up in your chaos. But now you're just a slight wind and that we can handle." Barney stated firmly. "All you have to do is give them a classic Mosby speech about fate and destiny and friendship and they'll be putty in your hands."

"Really?" Ted asks unsure and Barney nods with certainty.

"Look, you admit you made a mistake and you apologized. That's all we wanted. As long as you don't do it again."

"I definitely do not intend to. You and Robin are happy. Marshall and Lily are happy. I would never try and screw that up again. I'm already mad enough that I did it even once."

"Then you're fine." Barney waved a hand dismissively. "Besides Robin probably already made dinner plans for tomorrow with everyone."

"Marvin has a soccer game tomorrow." Robin informed breezily walking into the room. "But we are all having dinner on Friday. Ted, that includes you, and your kids if you have them."

"Yeah," Ted muttered and Barney could hear the slight awe in his voice. "We'll all be there."

"Good." Robin nodded decisively and sat down next to Barney threading their fingers together. Sure, everything had changed a lot since the group had actually been _the group_ but for the first time in awhile Barney finally believed that it would all be okay.


End file.
